Tangled in a Serpent's Coils
by lulutree
Summary: Follow up to my story Tangled Up in a Memory (which was a follow up to the series episode Cassandra Vs. Eugene). May need to read that story first. Rapunzel goes to see a psychiatrist as recommended by Eugene. What follows is a tangle of long buried secrets and festering hatred.
1. What's Up Doc?

"The carriage is here to take you to Dr. Mal's office, Rapunzel. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Mother, I'm on my way down."

Rapunzel met her mother at the bottom of the castle's main staircase. The middle-aged, but still lovely queen, looked nervous.

"What's the matter, Mother?" Rapunzel asked, a look of over-the-top concern taking over her face. Over-the-top reactions were the norm for the princess. "You seem nervous."

"I'm just worried about you, dear," her mother said, taking her hand in her own. "You gave us quite the scare."

Rapunzel reached out for her mother's other hand and held them securely.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I barely understand what is going on, but Eugene says that talking to a mind doctor is the best wat to deal with it and I trust him. I'm feeling better now than I have been for the past few days. I don't want what happened to me last night to happen to me again. I don't want to scare the people I love."

"Well, Dr. Mal should be able to help you. She helped your father and I cope when you were taken from us."

"If she could help you, I'm sure she could help me," Rapunzel said, her usual cheerfulness returning.

The two women walked to the front courtyard where the very plain carriage was waiting. Two brown quarter horses were harnessed to the front. The driver was a regular guard at the castle, but he was wearing what appeared to be his civilian clothes instead of his palace uniform. It was the queen's wish that Rapunzel go to the doctor's office secretly. Dr. Mal had insisted on conducting at least the initial session in her office, away from the clamor of the castle.

Rapunzel hugged her mother before climbing into the coach.

"Good luck, dear," the queen said. "I'll see you in two hours. Let me know how it goes."

Rapunzel promised she would as she shut the door. She settled back into the seat cushions as the vehicle started to move. She tried to keep her mind blank as she made her short journey to Dr. Mal's office. She had been nervous about the appointment. She wanted to make a good impression. Her mother had spoken so highly of the doctor. Rapunzel wanted everything to go as well for her as it did for her parents.

What she failed to realize was that nothing really got better for her parents until she had been returned to them. Dr. Mal had just given them tools to cope with their grief and worry at the loss of their daughter. She hadn't been able to solve their problem. Rapunzel didn't know that her parents still dealt with feelings of loss and regret over all the years they missed with their daughter from time to time.

The coach driver opened the door for the princess when they arrived. It had been arranged that Rapunzel would be dropped off and picked up at the office's back door. A woman was standing in the open doorway, her hands clasped in front of her body. She was middle-aged, a little older than the king and queen. She had grey hair creeping into her dark brown hair at the temples and lines around her eyes and mouth. She wasn't beautiful exactly, but she was still easy on the eyes and her mouth had what could be called a perpetually amused quirk to it.

It makes her look almost...sinister, Rapunzel thought, feeling slightly uneasy.

"Please come in, the woman said, gesturing through the doorway, back into the building.

Rapunzel entered the building and the woman closed the door behind them.

"Just through that last door on your right."

Rapunzel turned into the lavishly decorated office. Along two walls were built in bookshelves. There as a beautifully carved mahogany desk with a matching mahogany desk chair. In front of the desk were two small leather and mahogany chairs and across the room from the desk was a fainting couch and a large armchair.

"Please take a seat," the woman said, waving a finger at the two chairs facing the desk. She sat down in the desk chair. "As you might have already guessed, I am Dr. Veda Mal."

Rapunzel sat down in one of the offered chairs. It was surprisingly comfortable.

"Your mother contacted me. She said you've been having problems."

"Yeh-yes, I have been."

Rapunzel suddenly felt very self-conscious. Her face must have echoed that feeling because Dr. Mal smiled reassuringly at her.

"I'm sorry, maybe if we got to know each other a little, you'd be more comfortable."

The princess smiled and nodded.

"I'll start, if you don't mind," Dr. Mal said. "I've been practicing mind medicine for nearly twenty-five years. Mostly here in Corona, but I moved to Arendelle for about five years. Just moved back here about six months ago."

"I've read about Arendelle. Did you not like the winters up there?"

"Well, they weren't pleasant, I'll give you that much, but that wasn't the main reason. I was just homesick."

"Was there a reason you went to Arendelle?"

Dr. Mal's face grew tense for a brief second. If Rapunzel had blinked, she would have missed it, but she was fascinated by this woman so she had been studying her face closely. Rapunzel had come to realize that there was something eerily familiar about her.

"I just wanted to make a change, but enough about me, how about you? Tell me a little about yourself."

"Well, I am the princess of Corona, as you know. I just returned to Corona a few months ago. You probably heard, but I was trapped in a tower by a witch for nearly eighteen years."

"Yes, I know that well. I had just returned to Corona myself when you showed back up," Dr. Mal said. "I can't imagine what it was like being confined in a small tower for so long."

"Yes, it was horrible really. I didn't know how horrible it was until I experienced life outside."

The doctor nodded knowingly.

"This brings me to a question, if you don't mind, you had magical, healing blonde hair as an infant. I saw in a painting done of you for the local newspaper that when you returned you had short brown hair. I see now that your hair is blonde again and even though you have it wrapped and braided up, it is very long. Care to talk about that?"

"Yes, that is part of why I'm here, how my hair got cut off…it grew back recently. I went to the place where the magical flower was, the one that was used to heal my mother and gave me the magical hair. I touched the spot it was at and my blonde hair returned, but the healing powers didn't."

"They didn't?"

"No, I've tested it. I just have the hair now."

Dr. Mal nodded and wrote something down in a notebook that had been on her desk.

"And that was the reason you were kidnapped by the witch, what was her name?"

"Gothel, Mother Gothel and yes, that was why she took me. She used my healing ability to keep her young like she had used the flower before it was given to my real mother."

"So, she viewed you as a possession?"

"Yes, I see that now. She wasn't always mean to me…completely. She would say something nice to me and then follow it up with a mean…sarcastic remark. Or she would say something mean and then say she was joking, that I know she loves me."

Rapunzel shrunk back into the chair.

"I was so brainwashed. I didn't know any different."

"I understand, Rapunzel. We all find comfort where we can. Mother Gothel was all you had. Was she always at the tower with you?"

"No, I was alone a lot."

"What did you do while you were alone?" Dr. Mal asked.

"I'd sing, dance, paint, sew, cook, read, but I didn't have many books to read, so it would be the five over and over again. I daydreamed a lot. A lot, a lot. I have a pet chameleon named Pascal, so I would talk to him too and we'd play."

"Are you a good painter and cook?"

"Yes, very. I had lots of time to practice by myself in the tower…" Rapunzel's voice trailed off and she thought of all the time she had spent fending off her loneliness.

"How did you learn to cook, sew, paint etcetera?"

"Mother Gothel taught me to cook and sew. I taught myself to paint. She taught me lots of things actually. How to read and write, math. She taught me a lot of things that were wrong too. That men have razor sharp canines…"

"She kept you in fear of the outside world?"

"Yes, she didn't want anyone to find me, so she had to keep me in the tower."

"Did she lock the door to the tower? How did she keep you in the tower?"

"I didn't know until the last day I was there, but there was a giant slab of stone over a door in the tower room floor," Rpaunzel explained. "My hair was so long and strong that I would throw it out the window and Gothel would climb up and down it to get in and out of the tower."

"How did you eventually escape? I heard that an outlaw by the name of Flynn Rider found while fleeing the palace guards and you two eventually figured out that you were the missing princess."

"That's the short version, but you are correct."

"I can fully imagine why you would want to get out of that tower," Dr. Mal said, smiling a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I life like that is no life at all."

Rapunzel nodded. In her head she puzzled about this doctor. She seemed outwardly sincere and kind, but the princess felt something slightly off about her. There was an air about this woman that was not right.

No, Rapunzel, she thought. You are just overreacting because you are nervous. If Mother trusts this woman, you should too.

"Now Rapunzel," Dr. Mal said in a serious tone. "We need to discuss a little bit about why you are here. I know it is going to be difficult. But, it does need to be done."

Rapunzel nodded, clasping her hands in her lap nervously.

"If you need to take brakes, just let me know OK?"

"We'll start with the most recent and work our way back. Tell me about last night, princess."

Rapunzel took a deep before starting her tale.

"It was really bad last night, but I had been struggling for the past two days. I kept feeling like I was trapped, that I was back in the tower. I would keep slipping back and forth from the tower to my room in my mind. I was too scared to leave my room though. I didn't want my friends or mother and father around because I didn't think they'd understand and after what I did to Cass and Eugene, I couldn't face them."

"You were having flashbacks of the tower?"

"Yes, and nightmares about my last night in the tower. Blood was everywhere and Gothel would fall out the window over and over in front of me! Eugene lying dead in my arms…"

Rapunzel fell into a sobbing fit.

"I-I c-can't talk about-about it!" she sobbed. "It brings…brings it all b-back!"

"I understand, Rapunzel, but we need to work thought this," Dr. Mal said, pushing a box of handkerchiefs across her desk to the princess. "So, what I am hearing is you are having flashbacks, nightmares and feelings of fear and guilt."

"Yes."

"How did this episode start?"

"I have two people in my life, Cassandra, who's my friend and lady-in-waiting, and Eugene, who is my true love. I will marry him someday. He's also the Flynn Rider, former outlaw. Anyway, they are always fighting and I tricked them into being locked into a cell together and having to work together to get out. One thing led to another and the twin Stabbington Brothers escaped due to my actions and took Cass and Eugene hostage. Cass and Eugene were able to defeat the brothers, but they were both slightly injured. It was my fault they were put in that position in the dungeons and my fault they were hurt."

"No one was bleeding though?"

"Not that I know of."

"So how does that connect to your last night in the tower? Did what happen in the dungeon resemble what happen in the tower?"

"How it made me feel did and Eugene getting hurt did. How the Stabbington brothers were holding my friends did."

"I see," Dr. Mal said. "What it sounds like you are experiencing is called nostalgia by many in my profession. It affects around a quarter of people who experience something traumatic in their lives, such as violence or a bad accident of some kind or a natural disaster."

"That's what Eugene said. He said war veterans, victims of violent crimes or accidents, people like that can get post-trauma-whatsit, what you said. I didn't call it that though. I don't think he remembered the name."

"He must have some experience with it then."

"Is there a cure?"

"Somewhat," Dr. Mal said. "It can be managed, most definitely. It is something that will always be there, even if you go years and years between episodes. You have to keep up on management techniques though."

"What are the techniques?"

"There's a few different ways to manage PTSD and I generally prescribe a combination of techniques. There's cognitive therapy and exposure therapy and there are several herbal medications that I prescribe that can help. Duration of treatment with my office and the ratio of cognitive and exposure therapies will vary from person to person. The type of medication that will be affective and the duration of use will vary as well."

"Will I have to take medication for the rest of my life?"

"It depends. We will just have to take it a day at a time," Dr. Mal switched topics back to what was causing Rapunzel's issues, now that she was calm again. "Now, the episode in the dungeon and the two days afterwards were caused by something that happened in the tower. I know it will be hard to talk about, but could you talk about that last night?"

Rapunzel looked down at her hands which she had folded in her lap. She notice that they were shaking and clenched so tightly her knuckles had turned white. She took a deep breath and concentrated on relaxing her hands and her whole body.

"That's good, Rapunzel," Dr. Mal said softly. "Continue using any relaxation techniques you know. They will help."

The princess took a few more breaths before speaking.

"I escaped the tower with Eugene's help. What went on while I was out in the world isn't really important to what happened that last night in the tower other than Eugene and I fell in love with each other in those few days. Anyway, I was tricked into returning to the tower, to Mother Gothel. I got into an argument with her and she tied me up and gagged me. Eugene had followed us to the tower and she threw my hair down for him. I was tied and gagged, I c-couldn't warn him. She was hiding by-by the window when he came through. She sneaked up behind him and stabbed him in the stomach…she was standing right behind him like the Stabbington Brothers were standing behind him and Cass in the dungeon!"

Rapunzel began crying and shaking again.

"It was like I was tied and gagged again! I couldn't help Eugene then and I couldn't help him or Cass that night! I was defenseless again, like in the tower!"

Dr. Mal wrote more in her notebook.

"What happened next, in the tower?"

"I convinced Gothel to let me heal Eugene. I said if she let him die, I would fight and never stop fighting and trying to escape. If she let me heal him, I would go with her and never leave her or try to escape. So she let me heal him. Before I could though, Eugene use part of a broken mirror to cut all my hair off. When it is cut, it loses its power and turns brown. Gothel went crazy and started aging rapidly. Pascal, my chameleon used my hair to trip her and she fell out the window. Later, we looked for her, but her body had disintegrated into dust when she hit the ground."

"If you lost your hair, how did you save Eugene?"

"He was dying in my arms. I started crying. The last bit of magic came out in my tears and healed him. We were sitting in a pool of his blood, so we hurried out of the tower, through the door in the floor. I've never been back there."

"What you went through was definitely traumatic, Rapunzel, but I am optimistic about your prognosis."

"Can I ask about the therapies?"

"Of course you can. What do you want to know?"

"What are cognitive and exposure?"

"Well, the very simple definitions are these, cognitive therapy helps you understand and change how you think about your trauma and how it affected you afterwards. Exposure therapy will help you have less fear about your memories and gain control over your memories via repeated exposure to those memories."

"So, you are going to make me talk about the tower a lot, huh?"

"I am. It's going to difficult to begin with, like it was tonight, but eventually you will be able to discuss it frankly with me and anyone else you choose to discuss it with."

"What are the herbal medications?"

"There are several I work with. I will start you on the one I have the most success with, but if that doesn't help you, we'll try others. They are to help you feel less sad and less worried."

"Thank you for helping me," Rapunzel said. "What do we do next?"

"I will write up notes about this meeting and then write you a prescription. We'll start the therapy next session. I want to start by meeting once a week, we can do more than that if that doesn't work and after a while, we can taper sessions to fewer and fewer."

"I can meet anytime."

"I'll send you the dates for the next few weeks when I send the herbal medication."

"That will be fine."

Dr. Mal stood up and Rapunzel followed suit. The doctor escorted the princess to the back door where Rapunzel's carriage was waiting. The two women shook hands before Rapunzel stepped onboard. Rapunzel noted with some embarrassment that her palm was sticky with sweat, but if the doctor noticed, she didn't say anything.

"Try to have a good rest of your day," Dr. Mal said.

"I will!" Rapunzel said. "Thank you so much doctor!"

Rapunzel shut the coach door and she headed back to the palace. She frowned to herself.

"I know I should be feeling good about this," she said quietly to herself. "But, I get an odd feeling from that woman."

* * *

After the princess had left, Veda Mal returned to her office. She did write up the notes from her session with Rapunzel, but while she did so, she smirked. A sinister glimmer shone in her eyes.

So her hair is back? she thought. She says it no longer has its magical properties, but how do I know she is telling the truth?

She finished compiling her notes of the session and took out another, older notebook from a drawer in her desk, opening it to a page near the middle.

 ** _I had my meeting with the princess of Corona, Rapunzel, this afternoon. My heart fell when I saw her out in the street just after her return to her family. Her hair was brown and short. Her hair was blonde when she was kidnapped from the palace all those years ago. But, now her hair is back to blonde. Her magic has to be there, maybe she has yet to find the right words to unlock it?_**

 ** _My return to Corona was fortuitous. Arednelle was nothing but a dead end. I know that the heir to the Arendelle throne has magic abilities of her own, but I was unable to get close to her. Based on what I learned, her powers are useless to me and unconnected to the magic I am seeking._**

 ** _Princess Rapunzel has what I need, what I seek. My birthright, my legacy._**

 ** _Time to put my plan into action._**

* * *

Post-traumatic stress disorder is the modern term, it was called many, many things throughout history. I felt that the modern term wouldn't have been used in Rapunzel's universe, it just didn't fit when I typed it out initially. Nostalgia was a term used for it around the same time period Rapunzel is _traditionally_ set in the 17th century (I know about fan theories regarding when this was set, I don't care). There is a German term for it, Heimweh, that used during the same time period by some German doctors (Rapunzel is a German fairy tale), but I couldn't find as much on it being used as a term for PTSD, so I went with nostalgia.

Also, I found it humorous to use nostalgia in a negative context, with how much people seem to see the past through rose colored glasses nowadays.

I know I'm playing pretty fast and loose with facts about PTSD etc., but Disney plays fast and loose with facts of all kinds, so I'm just following their lead.


	2. Bears in the Woods

It had been a few days since Rapunzel's appointment with Dr. Mal. As promised, the day after their appointment, the mind doctor had sent two week's supply of the herbal remedy and the date of their next appointment, which was the Friday of the following week. There was also a note explaining the medication, what it was meant to do and a list of possible side effects. Rapunzel repeatedly read the list of side effects that were noted to be adverse and to contact Dr. Mal immediately if she experienced them.

The princess had taken the medication, but couldn't tell if they were having any effect. The doctor had explained that it would take a few days to build up in her system and she may not see an improvement for several days. Other than being tired from lack of sleep, Rapunzel had been feeling much better. Her family, friends and castle personnel had all been very mindful of her and did their best to make her comfortable and to keep things quiet around the castle until Rapunzel was back on her feet, so to say. Her only real issue for the few days since her appointment was the fear of having nightmares, which prevented her from getting a good night's rest.

Eugene and Cassandra had both noticed that the princess was getting a little stir crazy, so they decided the best course of action would be to get her out of the castle for some quiet fun. It took them about an hour to come up with an activity that would be both quiet and fun, they spent a lot of that hour arguing. Eugene finally suggested a picnic in the forested area just on the other side of the palace walls. The forest was beautiful that time of year, quiet, private and it afforded them a quick response from the palace if needed without being in the palace. Cassandra surprised herself by liking his idea. Rapunzel liked the idea as well and the trio set about gathering equipment and having the kitchen put a picnic basket together for them.

Rapunzel's only issue came up when she couldn't find Pascal. The chameleon was her oldest friend, her only friend for most of her life, and was always with her. She checked the entire palace, but couldn't find him. Eugene and Cass told her not to worry. Cass had noticed that he did sometimes go into town on his own to visit a female iguana that was the pet of a local fruit vendor. Rapunzel decided that she would just keep looking for him after they came back from their picnic. He was very capable of taking care of himself and if he was off making friends with fellow reptiles, she didn't want to get in the way of that. There were few reptiles in their part of the world that he could befriend.

* * *

Eugene picked out a spot at the edge of a small meadow, under a tree that would shade them from the warm midday sun. Cassandra surprised herself again by approving the spot he picked, commenting that they were in view of the wall guards in case something came up. She could just make out the white outline of Maximus as he kept an eye on his princess.

"What could come up?" Eugene asked, helping Rapunzel spread the raggedy old quilt on the ground.

"Um…bears, there are bears in these woods," Cassandra said after a moment.

Rapunzel's lady-in-waiting handed Eugene and Rapunzel their sit-upons and plopped hers down on the freshly smoothed down quilt. She pulled the large wicker basket of food from the wood wagon they had used to transport their supplies and placed it to one side of her sit-upon. She also retrieved the dishes they'd brought with them.

"They could spring out at us at any time," Cass continued. "You won't know they're there until it's too late."

"Ok, you could be right about the bears," Eugene muttered, kneeling down on the other side of the basket from Cassandra, opening it and looking inside. "They would certainly want a taste of this spread!"

Cassandra sat on her sit-upon and smoothed out her skirt to one side.

"The kitchen sure did a good job," she said. "Just don't go eating it all, Fitzerbert."

"I would never deprive my princess of such a delicious meal," Eugene said, taking Rapunzel's hand in his and smiling at her.

Rapunzel smiled back and helped her friends pull out the food. It was already arranged on metal platters and wrapped up in paper. The princess giggled as she unwrapped the food.

"What's so funny?" Eugene asked.

"They put the food on these tough metal plates," Rapunzel said. "They know us well at the palace. They know we are prone to breaking things."

Eugene chuckled.

"Yeah, it seems we are," he said. "But, I think these are official picnicking dishes, so we'd have received them regardless."

The trio finished setting out and unwrapping the food. Cass took on the task of dealing it out. There was a lot to choose from. An assortment of fresh, cut fruit and a plate of vegetables with cheese dip for snacking on. There was a sweet fruit salad, a three bean salad and roast beef sandwiches with a special cheese that was made by the kitchen staff. For dessert there was a raspberry tart and to drink there was iced tea and apple cider. Once everyone had loaded their plates, they dug in.

"I really like this cheese," Cass said around a mouthful of sandwich. "I'm glad we went with sandwiches instead of the sauerbraten they are serving in the castle today."

"Although, I do like my lamb sauerbraten," Eugene said.

"Well, you'd be disappointed today then," Cass told him. "It's beef sauerbraten. That's the meat I prefer, it's the more mainstream variety."

"I just like lamb in general," Eugene continued. "It is the king of meats."

"Says you," Cass scoffed. "And we all know how much your opinion matters, _Rider_."

Eugene held up the crust of one of his sandwiches, placing it in front of his mouth like a jeering smile and cocked an eyebrow.

"Touchy about our sauerbraten are we, _Cassandra_?"

Rapunzel giggled.

"I just can't get you two to get along, now can I?"

Eugene and Cassandra were immediately contrite.

"I'm sorry if we are upsetting you, Rapunzel," Eugene said, putting a hand on her forearm. "We'll stop."

"Yes, we should stop," Cass agreed, thinking, It was this behavior that indirectly lead to Rapunzel's breakdown the other night. I just need to learn to get along with Eugene.

"No, it's alright," Rapunzel said. "You two are so different. It was unfair of me to lock you two up and expect you to just magically be friends. Becoming friends is more intricate than that. And I realize that you don't have to agree all the time with people to be their friend."

Cass was about to reply to the princess when there was a slight whistling sound and an arrow sliced through the lady-in-waiting's pale skirt, burying itself in the ground. Before Cassandra could move, a half dozen more identical arrows pinned her skirt to the forest floor. Eugene and Rapunzel spring up, food and drink spilling around them and rushed to Cass' aid.

"Cass are you hit?" Rapunzel cried out.

The same moment that the pair reached Cassandra two tall, muscular men stepped out from a clump of thick bushes that was on one side of the clearing. They were both wearing masks. One was holding a modern crossbow and the other was hold a long bow. In his long bow an arrow, identical to the ones holding Cass to the ground, was strung and ready to be fired.

The man with the crossbow looked at Rapunzel as he pointed it meaningfully at Eugene as they approached. Once they were only a few feet away, the masked man with the long bow fired ten more arrows into Cassandra's skirt. She flinched as she felt one arrow shoot through the multiple layers of her dress and petticoat fabric and buried itself in the heel of her right shoe.

"Princess Rapunzel, you will come with us peacefully," the man with the crossbow instructed, motioning for Rapunzel and Eugene to put their hands up. His voice was calm, but menacing. "We know your lady-in-waiting is really a bodyguard. You see that she is helpless, but unharmed. If you do not do as we say, she will not remain unharmed and neither will your little boy toy."

He stepped forward, putting the crossbow to Eugene's chest. Eugene gulped and his face turned white. Rapunzel took a step forward.

"I-I'll do whatever you ask, please just don't hurt my friends, please!"

"No, Rapunzel," Eugene said. "I know if you run you could make it to the wall. There are guards there and Max."

"Go, Raps, go!" Cass encouraged her. "I knew what I was getting into when I took the position as your lady-in-waiting."

Rapunzel waivered slightly and the two bandits could see that fact. The man with the crossbow kneed Eugene in the stomach. The man coughed as the wind was knocked out of him and he fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. The bandit put a boot onto Eugene's head and forced his face into the ground. He pointed the crossbow at the defenseless Eugene's back

"Do I need to make you watch this man die or are you going to come with us?" he growled. "I asked you nicely before, I won't be so nice the next time I give you instruction. What will it be?"

"I'll go, I'll go! Just please, let him up! He can't breathe!"

The man let Eugene up. Eugene coughed and spat out dirt and plant material as he pulled his face up from the grass. The man with the bow grabbed Rapunzel by the back of her neck and shoved her forward, towards the trees to the west of the clearing, while the man with the crossbow faced Eugene and Cass, pointing the weapon at them as he walked backwards at a fast pace. Eugene tried going after them once the one with the crossbow was out of sight behind the forest shrubbery, but quickly had to dodge to the side to avoid being sliced on his shoulder by a bolt.

That didn't stop Cassandra from giving out a piercing whistle towards the palace wall and wriggling free from the shoe with an arrow. They both heard a faint whinny from Maximus. Cassandra tried to free her skirt from the confining arrows, but the bandit had been smart about where he shot them. He didn't want to weaken the material so he had spaced them out the best he could. The woman couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of appreciation of the man's mastery of the art of archery.

"Fitzerbert, help me would you?"

Eugene had been peering into the forest, trying to gauge if the crossbow bandit could still see him. He jumped to help Cass as she cried out. He went directly to her skirt to try and pull it up.

"Forget the skirt, help me get out of this dress!"

Cassandra had already undone the top of the bodice to her dress, but the intricate crisscross pattern of the laces would take a long time to undo on her own. Eugene grabbed either side of the bodice with both hands and tugged sharply outwards. There was the sound of tearing fabric, but Cassandra was able to free herself from the ruined dress. She stood and watched as Maximus galloped towards them, wearing nothing by her corset, which barely covered her breasts, her short bottom petticoat and her stockings.

"Let's go, they couldn't have got far," Cass shouted, jumping onto Max's back.

Eugene swung onto to the horse behind Cass and nearly fell off once the animal started moving. He felt very uncomfortable holding onto Cass while she was just in her underwear.

"Oh, grow up, Fitzerbert!" Cass yelled at him after the third time of him nearly falling off the horse. "We're both adults here! You're slowing us down, just grab me around the waist!"

Eugene did so, his neck and face turning bright red. Maximus was following the men's and Rapunzel's scent trail. Up ahead, they could hear the snorting of horses and the voices of two men.

* * *

The man's hand on the back of her neck made Rapunzel's skin crawl. Her eyes darted around at her surroundings, trying to find a means of escape. Nothing jumped out at her and without knowing if Eugene and Cass were safe, she didn't dare make a move.

Not until I know they will be safe, she thought.

She was forced into a small clearing, not unlike the one they had chosen to picnic in, where a plain, old coach was waiting. Anything that could be reflective, such as windows and metal bolts, was covered in thick, black canvas or black paint. All the decorative trim had been removed, only voids in the paint and screw holes remained as evidence that this coach had once been far more fancy than it was at that moment. There were four sleek black horses harnessed to the coach, a third masked man holding the reigns. He was sitting on the coachmen's seat, looking down at the man and Rapunzel as they approached. The man holding Rapunzel pushed her towards the already open door to the vehicle.

"In you go, your majesty," he said.

This man had a distinctive accent. He clearly from another area, at least originally.

No wonder he hasn't spoken until now, Rapunzel thought.

The princess looked around, looking for a means of escape. The man with the crossbow had caught up with her and the other bandit. The third bandit must have sensed her looking for an escape route and pulled out a large carving knife.

"Our boss wants ya alive, but do ya need all your fingers to live? Or your cute liddle nose?"

The bandit with the accent shoved the princess to the door of the carriage.

"Get in tere," he growled. "My man is right. You don't 'ave ta be 'ole ta be alive, yah?"

I think he's from Arendelle, she thought, remembering her meeting with some Arendelle merchants from a few weeks before and how they pronounced words in her language.

"Stop loitering," the coachman yelled. "IN!"

The accented man grabbed Rapunzel by the back of the neck again and squeezed hard. Rapunzel reached back and grasped the man around his wrist with both hands, but was unable to move his powerful hand in any way. He grabbed her right wrist and twisted her arm and hand around until it became painful for her.

"Do you vant me ta go back tere an' kill yer little friends?" he said directly into her ear. "Tey vill never be safe again! How do you tink ve found you tree? How ve knew vere you ver? Vat do you tink happened to yoor little lizard? None of you are safe!"

Rapunzel felt like the ground was falling out from under her.

They had to have been in the palace, she thought.

She didn't want to think about what they had done to Pascal.

If only I'd looked for him harder, maybe none of this would have happened, she thought.

She put one foot into the coach, but jumped in surprise as the coachman shouted.

"Hurry and get 'er inside, I hear someone coming!"

* * *

"Hurry and get 'er inside, I hear someone coming!" Cass heard someone say from the forest in front of them.

Maximus broke through the tall shrubs and into a small clearing. The horse, Cass and Eugene watched as the two bandits picked up Rapunzel and tossed her into a beaten up coach. The bandit with the crossbow had just enough time to grab onto the doorframe when a third masked man snapped the reigns and got the four black horses moving and they were fast. By the time, Max had reached the spot where the coach had been waiting, the bandits were already flying down a track through the forest.

Putting on a burst of speed which nearly knocked both of his riders off, Max shot off after the coach and his mistress. Faster and faster he went, dodging around oaks, beeches and the odd pine as he tried to catch up to the coach. He was running so hard and so fast, a sweat was forming all along his body. The bandits weren't making things easy for them, the coach was kicking up a large amount of dust and clumps of earth in its wake. Max was unable to follow directly behind the vehicle due to this.

"Max, pull up as close as you can to the coach and stay with it," Eugene instructed, spitting out a mouthful of dust. "I'm going to jump on. Cass, be ready to catch Rapunzel!"

The horse sped up as much as he could. He was in his prime and in top physical condition, but he was starting to feel the strain of running at top speed for a long period of time. To himself, he wondered how the coach's four horses were fairing. He felt some admiration for their running abilities and stamina. On his back, he felt Eugene get ready to jump. He got as close as he could to the back of the coach. He neighed a warning as he spotted the man with the crossbow leaning out of the door to the coach, pointing the weapon at Cass.

At the same time as Eugene leapt from Max's back, grabbing ahold of a bar on the back of the vehicle's cab, the bandit fired a bolt from the crossbow. Cass nearly lost her leg hold on the saddle as Maximus had to fling himself to the side to avoid the projectile. While the bandit was reloading, Eugene took the opportunity to make his way to the door on the other side of the cab. Maximus nipped at the bandit's protruding elbow in an attempt to slow him down and distract him from Eugene's movements.

Luckily for Rapunzel and her rescuers, the other door was not locked. Eugene pulled it open and swung inside, noting that a struggling Rapunzel was being held quite cruelly by the bandit who had the long bow. He knew he wasn't the best fighter out there, but he did alright. He had been training regularly with the palace guards. He hoped his training would pay off as he charged the bandit with the crossbow. The man was leaning out of the door, a bolt ready to fire, presumably at Cassandra and Maximus.

The other man tried to call out a warning, but Eugene moved quickly. Using as much strength and momentum that he could build up in the confined space, he rammed his shoulder into the man. The bandit barely had time to scream before he was heard hitting the ground and the carriage bucked a little bit as the back wheel ran over him. Eugene nearly fell out of the coach himself, but grabbed onto the door frame for dear life. He managed to steady himself in the doorway and turned to see the second bandit shove the princess down onto the cushioned bench. He pulled out a long dagger and stood in a fighting stance with his feet wide apart.

"I'm gonna enjoy dis!" the bandit sneered. "I know of you, Flynn Rider. You are said to be a sneaky devil, but are you a good fighter?"

"Well, why don't you come over here and find out, bandit boy?" Eugene said with more confidence than he felt.

The bandit he had knocked out of the cab was smaller than him. This second bandit was at least six inches taller and fifty pounds heavier than him and that weight clearly wasn't made up of fat based on the man's physique.

"I'd have taken you lot down already if I had my frying pan!"

"Frying pan?" the bandit scoffed. "You are a strange one, I..."

The bandit's eyes suddenly bulged out from their sockets and he made a croaking sound as he stopped speaking.

"You forgot, I'm still here!" came Rapunzel's voice from behind the large man. "I'm no defenseless maiden!"

The bandit doubled over and clutched at his groin as Rapunzel removed her bare foot. She had kicked him hard from behind. Rapunzel hurried around to stand with Eugene who hugged her and guided her to the open door. He didn't want to bring the attention of the driver so he motioned Max to get closer. He turned to Rapunzel.

"I'm going to swing you onto Max's back and then I will take care of the driver. You three head back to the palace. Be ready, we only get one shot and poor Max is tired."

The horse was indeed tired, his breath coming out in puffs. He put on one last burst of speed and pulled up slightly ahead of the door. Eugene took Rapunzel by the waist and tossed her up in to the air slightly and pushed her outwards. Cass squeezed her legs tightly around Max and grabbed ahold of the princess with both hands, one hand caught onto the princess' right wrist the other the left side of her bodice. She pulled Rapunzel face down onto the horse, lying across Max's shoulders.

As Cassandra caught ahold of the princess, the second bandit had regained his composure. Seeing that Eugene was not holding onto any part of the carriage, he took his chance. Cassandra had just finished lying Rapunzel across Max when she turned to watch in horror as the bandit shoved Eugene out of the coach!

"Eugene!" she shrieked, as time seemed to slow down and sound seemed to disappear.

They had reached a cobblestone road by this time. Eugene hit the pavement hard and rolled once while the back wheel of the coach went over his lower left leg with a sickening snap. He rolled several more times after the coach moved away from him and continued on until it disappeared into the horizon. Maximus slid to a stop a few feet from the motionless body of Eugene. Cass jumped down from his back and hastily pulled Rapunzel down too. The princess had not seen what had happened, she had only heard Cassandra scream her suitor's name and the sound of something snapping.

"No!" she cried as she ran to Eugene, falling to her knees next to him.

"Don't move him," Cassandra warned, kneeing down on the other side of him.

Eugene was lying flat on his back. Blood tricked out of mouth, nose and a gash on the side of his head. One of his hands was scraped and bleeding and his other arm was trapped underneath him. His left leg was definitely broken. In dismay, Cass saw that there was blood coming from where the break would be. She carefully peeled back Eugene's torn pant leg and saw a piece of bone jutting out. She quickly pulled her hand away as she began to feel queasy. She had seen injuries in the past, bad ones, but somehow this felt different. It was at that moment that she realized she did care about Eugene, just a little.

She absently noted that the princess was touching Eugene's face and reciting what sounded like poetry, but she didn't have time to deal with that. She turned to Maximus. The horse looked extremely tired. She hated to ask more of him, but she didn't have any other options.

"Max, please get help!"

The horse saluted and turned to head back towards the palace and the city, but he didn't need to. Palace guards, headed by the Captain himself were rushing up the road and from the direction of the forest towards them. Relief flooded through Cassandra to the point she felt light headed. She turned her attention back to Rapunzel. She was still chanting, so fast Cass could barely make out the words, but she realized it was the healing incantation.

"Flower, gleam and glow,  
Let your power shine,  
Make the clock reverse,  
Bring back what once was mine.

"Heal what has been hurt,  
Change the Fates' design,  
Save what has been lost,  
Bring back what once was mine,  
What once was mine."

Nothing was happening, Rapunzel's magic still had not returned if it was ever going to. Eugene cracked open his eyes and raised the hand that was not under his body towards the princess.

"Rapunzel…stop…" he croaked.

Rapunzel clasped his hand in both of hers.

"I-I'm just trying to heal you!"

"I know…it'll be OK…I'll be…fine…"

Eugene's eyes slid closed and his arm went limp.

"Eugene? Eugene, please wake up!" Rapunzel cried as she resumed chanting the healing incantation without success.


	3. You Think You'll Be Safe?

The hallway in the medical wing of the castle compound was far quieter than usual. The medical wing was fairly small, and medical staff there generally only saw minor injuries or a broken bone here and there. Of course their most common patients were guards. They came in with a variety of ailments: cuts and bruises from fight training, sore muscles from physical training, and the occasional broken bone, usually from somebody being foolish. It had been many, many years since Corona had been in a war, so doctors didn't have much to do in the castle. The last time any number of injuries had been seen by palace medical staff was the result of the palace guards chase involving Flynn Rider after he had stolen the princess' crown. The King and Queen only had one full time doctor at the castle and contracted out with the other doctors around Corona who came in a day or two a month to help out.

Normally, the few patients that spent time in the medical wing would be out in the hallways chatting and playing games to pass the time, but not this day. They remained in their rooms, respectful of the royal family as two of their members stood in the waiting room, waiting on word from the medical staff on the other side of the swinging doors that lead to the consulting and operating rooms.

The Queen, Rapunzel and Cassandra all stood in a tight circle. The King was out with the Captain of the Guard searching for the coach and the two escaped bandits. Rapunzel and Cassandra were just finishing up telling the Queen what had happened in the forest.

Cassandra shuddered.

"Seeing that bandit crushed by the coach wheel. I can't seem to get that out of my mind. And the sound it made!"

"Did he die?" Rapunzel asked. "I hadn't heard."

"Yes, he did," the Queen said. "The Captain said it appears he was killed the instant the wheel went over him."

"Do we know his name?" Cass said.

"Not yet," Queen Ariana said.

"While I was in the carriage," Rapunzel said in a hushed tone. "The Arendelle bandit said that we wouldn't be safe even in the castle. They would find you all and hurt you if I didn't cooperate."

The Queen's face paled.

"That would mean they have access to the castle. They have someone on the inside working for them."

"But, everyone here is so hard working and loyal," Rapunzel said. "I don't see anyone as working for them."

"Money is a strong motivator," Queen Ariana said. "It could be anyone, and more than one person too. A guard, a maid, a cook…a doctor even. I'll have to instigate an investigation of every member of the palace staff."

The trio turned at the sound of hurried footsteps coming down the hallway towards them. A young palace guard was walking quickly in their direction. His hands were cupped in front of him and he had a concerned look on his face. He stopped directly in front of Rapunzel and held out his cupped hands to her. Cradled carefully in his palms was Pascal!

"Pascal!" Rapunzel cried, taking the small reptile into her own hands.

The chameleon appeared to be breathing normally, but was a sickly green color and felt colder than usual. The princess pressed her friend to her bosom to try and warm him.

"I found him in a cell in the lowest level of the dungeon," the young guard explained. "I was just doing my regular rounds. We don't have anyone housed in that part of the dungeon so, I was just doing a quick check of the very back cells. I spotted him wrapped in a towel on one of the bunks. We wasn't there an hour before when I did my check. I think he's been drugged."

The princess turned her attention to her lizard friend, trying to rouse him while the Queen looked to the guard. Now that they were standing next to one another, she could see he was actually a corporal, based on the patches on his uniform sleeves.

"Thank you, corporal…"

"Corporal Glosser, majesty, Corporal Pete Glosser."

"Thank you Cpl. Glosser," Queen Ariana said. "We were growing quite worried about the little lizard. Did you see who could have left him in the cell?"

"My apologies, but I did not, majesty," he said. "I started my shift in the dungeon three hours ago and found little Pascal on my third round. He was not in that cell on my two previous rounds. I didn't see anyone in the dungeon who was not permitted to be in there and none of the prisoners were allowed out of their cells in any function during that time."

"Who all were there that are permitted?" Cass asked.

"Well, there were three other guards there with me for those two hours, Aren Nobal, Chester Rogers and Mabel O'Brien. There were two kitchen staff there at the beginning of my shift serving lunch. I'd have to look up their names in the sign in sheet."

"Did any of the prisoners say anything about a stranger or someone wandering around in the dungeon?" Cass asked.

Cpl. Glosser shook his head.

"Not that was mentioned to me."

"Thank you Cpl. Glosser," Queen Ariana said. "You will be called for if we have any more questions."

Cpl. Glosser bowed and then took his leave. Cass and the Queen turned their attention to Pascal, who was still being hugged tightly to Rapunzel's chest.

"He looks ill," Queen Ariana said.

"He's breathing like he is asleep," Rapunzel told her. "I've been trying to wake him up, but I can't."

"I think he's been drugged," Cass said, looking at the chameleon closely. "He doesn't appear harmed otherwise."

The three women looked up from the reptile at the sound of the swinging doors opening. The palace doctor, Dr. Consuela Rios, approached the trio, letting the swinging doors swish back and forth behind her until they finally closed.

She was a slim, handsome, middle-aged woman; gray was just starting to show itself amongst her thick, black hair. She had worked for the royal family for the past fifteen years, after moving from her home country to the south. She had received her medical training in Corona as a young woman and only had a very slight accent. She did have the bad habit of over describing injuries and had to be reminded to stop on occasion.

Before she could say anything, Rapunzel blurted out:

"Is Eugene alright?" she asked, stepping up to the doctor. "Can we see him?"

"You'll be able to see him in a few minutes, the nurses are moving him into a room as we speak," Dr. Rios said. "He's asleep now and will likely remain that way for a few more hours. We had to do surgery on his leg."

"We understand," Queen Arianna said. "How bad was it?"

"The leg break was by far the worst of his injuries," Dr. Rios explained. "Part of his tibia bone was exposed through his shin. Probable concussion, but we won't know for sure until he wakes up. Took twenty stitches to his head, five in his left palm, sprained left wrist and some bruised ribs. We cleaned him up, there was blood all over…Oh, yes over sharing, my apologies, Majesty. He's lucky to be alive."

"Will he be alright?" Rapunzel asked, shakily, her face pale.

"It is my professional opinion that he will recover," Dr. Rios said, nodding. "It will take time though. He will require physical therapy on his leg to rebuild its strength. He will be fine."

A young nurse emerged from the double swinging doors and approached the doctor.

"We have Mr. Fitzherbert situated in room 40, ma'am," she said.

"Thank you, Anise," Dr. Rios turned to the three women, "I'll take you to him. Like I said before though, he will still be asleep."

Cass didn't step forward with Rapunzel and Queen Ariana.

"I'm going to go check on Max," she explained, pointing with her thumb over her shoulder. "He really over exerted himself during the chase."

Rapunzel and the Queen nodded acknowledgement to the lady-in-waiting and followed Dr. Rios down the hallway, the princess still clasping Pascal to her chest. Eugene's room was at the far end of the hallway, near an exit to the palace grounds. The doctor said that she would check in on them and Eugene in a short while and left the two women to enter the room on their own.

Just as the doctor had warned them, Eugene was sound asleep in the sterile looking hospital bed. Rapunzel hurried to his side and threaded her hand with his. She studied his face. A white bandage was wrapped around his forehead and his left cheek was swollen and bruised. Rapunzel chuckled when she realized that Eugene was snoring slightly.

"Here you go, dear."

Rapunzel turned at the sound of her mother's voice and the sound of something being pushed across the floor. Queen Ariana positioned a wooden chair behind her daughter so she could sit next to the bed. She moved one for herself over to the bed and sat down. Rapunzel adjusted the chair so that she could more easily hold Eugene's hand.

"So, the kidnappers believed you possess magic in your hair still?" Queen Ariana asked, quietly, not wanting to disturb the sleeping man in the bed.

"They never mentioned it. All they said was I just needed to be alive."

"Oh, I guess I came to that conclusion on my own," Queen Ariana said. "It was just the logical conclusion for me to reach, I guess. Now that I think about it, we had yet to discuss it today."

"I'm sure it is the reason they tried to take me," Rapunzel conceded. "Why else would they take me?"

"It has to be more than you just being the princess," the Queen said. "If they wanted to take you for ransom just based on the fact that you are the princess, they would have done so before now, even when you had your hair cut off."

"Maybe they'd leave me alone if they knew I no longer had the magic in my hair."

The Queen shook her head.

"I don't think that would work," she said. "They've already gone to so much trouble to get ahold of you. They could just think we are trying to trick them into leaving you alone. I don't think we could prove it to them in any way."

There was a soft tap on the door and it slowly opened. King Frederic quietly stepped into the room, preventing any further discussion between the mother and daughter on the topic of Rapunzel's hair. The large man silently closed the door behind him and approached the bed. He leaned down and kissed his daughter on the top of her head.

"How is he?"

"Dr. Rios said he will recover with time," Rapunzel said. "She also said he would probably remain asleep for the next few hours."

The king nodded. He declined the chair offered to him by his wife.

"I won't stay long," he said, quietly. "I just wanted to update you two on our investigation of the attempted kidnapping."

Both women looked to him eagerly, hoping for good news.

"There is no sign of the coach," King Frederic said glumly. "We were able to track its wheel marks to a main country thoroughfare, but due to the high amount of traffic on that road, we couldn't make out any tracks. I still have men searching in both directions, but I don't hold out much hope of picking up the trail again. It was a standard sized coach with run of the mill horses, so there is nothing unique about the tracks the kidnappers made for us to pick out."

"Were there any witnesses along the road?" Queen Ariana asked.

"None that could give us a good accounting of where the coach went," the King sighed. "There were several that recall seeing the coach or a similar coach go by, but nothing that will help our search."

"Surely, they could point us in the direction the coach went?" Queen Ariana said.

"We have conflicting accounts on which direction they went. Witnesses from the north and from the south claim to have seen a coach like the one Rapunzel and Cassandra have described."

The queen sighed.

"I see."

"What about the bandit that was killed?" Rapunzel asked.

The king's face brightened a little as he brought up the topic of the dead bandit.

"We were able to identify him," he said. "His name is Anthony Johannes, age forty-three. We were able to discover that he is a well-known bandit in several surrounding countries, and while he had been labeled as a man to watch here in Corona, he is not well known here. He also has not committed any local attributable crimes while here in the past five years."

"Where is he from?" Queen Ariana asked.

"He was actually born in Corona, but his family is originally from the Southern Isles. His mother and father passed away some time ago, but his father, George, was a palace guard for twenty-seven years, retired the year before I was passed the crown from my father. Anthony would have been twenty years old at the time, just a few years younger than me."

"Do you remember his father, dear?" Ariana asked.

"I do not," the king shook his head, "It was so long ago and we've had so many guards. He only reached the rank if Second Lieutenant. I asked around our long serving palace guards. There are only a few left who were around twenty-three years ago and they don't remember him. I read through his palace record and while he didn't have any outstanding accomplishments, he was noted as a hard and studious worker. None of his superiors had anything bad to say about him that was recorded and he left of his own volition."

"So, there was nothing that would cause his son to hate us and want revenge," Ariana said.

"Nothing that was noted in this father's record any way."

"I see," the queen nodded. "So what steps are being taken now?"

"The Captain is heading up the search of the countryside in hopes of tracking down the coach. I am heading up the investigation of Johannes' and the other two bandit's last known movements while in the city."

King Frederic turned to his daughter.

"Is there anything more you can tell us about the driver and the Arendelle bandit? Anything at all?"

Rapunzel slouched in her chair and shook her head.

"I wish I could," she said. "I've been thinking about them this whole time. I've been trying to picture them in my mind, but I can't give a better description of them. The driver was just a regular shaped man, thin. The bandit with the accent was large and muscular, but I couldn't say anything more about him."

"Well, if you think of anything, let me or the Captain know," King Frederic said. "I'm going to be posting guards at all entrances to the medical wing and right outside the room door. I'll be by later to check in. In the meantime, I'm going to be working on tactics to ferret out the mole we obviously have within the castle."

The king kissed his wife and then his daughter and took his leave. As promised, a guard could be seen standing at the door as the king opened the door to leave. Queen Ariana stayed with her daughter and Eugene for another hour before she too left, leaving Rapunzel to keep watch over the man she loved.

* * *

The sun's final rays were stretching themselves over the walls of Eugene's hospital room. The remains of Rapunzel's dinner were on a tray set on a table next to the door. Eugene had yet to wake up. Rapunzel sat curled up in her wooden chair, sound asleep. She was still cradling Pascal in her lap. He had woken up some time earlier, but has since fallen back to sleep. From what Rapunzel had gathered, he had eaten some pastries that had been left by his bed by an unknown person and had just fallen asleep. It was clearly a case of drugging.

Cassandra had stopped by for a short time, reporting that Max was doing fine, the stable hands were tending to his needs and he was resting comfortably. The lady-in-waiting didn't stay long. Her own exertions that day had made her tired and hospitals weren't her favorite place to hang out. Rapunzel had encouraged her to go to her room and get some rest.

Now it was just the sleeping Rapunzel that remained by her love's bedside.

What roused her from her sound sleep, Rapunzel couldn't tell, but it didn't repeat itself once her head snapped up in surprise. The princess rubbed at the back of her neck, sore from the position it had been held in for the past hour or so. Once she had cleared her vision and her sleep muddled brain she was able to focus on what was in front of her.

Eugene was still sound asleep, snoring ever so slightly. Beyond him was a large window. Rapunzel studied the dim scenery of the palace grounds. She could see the dark shapes of the trees and bushes of the immaculately groomed palace gardens and the long, flat shadow of the wall at the far end.

Rapunzel's blood froze when she finally saw it. The two dark shapes of two people standing behind her could be seen in the window reflection! Rapunzel also could see that one of them was holding a knife!


	4. Night Attack

Rapunzel froze as her mind began racing, scrambling to come up with a plan. She didn't dare take her eyes off of the shapes of the two people behind her. She didn't dare blink.

What do I do? Where's the guard? She thought.

Her chance to formulate any semblance of a plan was cut off by one of the two intruders stepping forward. More out of instinct than coherent thought, Rapunzel kicked her chair backwards as she jumped up. The heavy oak chair didn't travel very far, but it did impede the forward movement of the intruder, stopping him or her from performing any action he or she had planned.

Rapunzel whirled around to face the two darkly clothed people, keeping her body between them and Eugene. Her one thought was to keep anyone from hurting the man she loved ever again. The one she had kicked the chair into was a tall muscular male. The other intruder, who was holding the knife, was a very thin, boney female. Both were wearing black masks and black clothing.

"Who are you? How'd you get in here?" Rapunzel shouted as loud as she could, hoping to catch the attention of anyone nearby.

The woman grinned wickedly and raised the knife. The blade dripped blood on to the floor. It was then that the princess noticed the trail of blood drops leading from the closed door to where the woman stood.

"Yell as loud as you like, child," the woman said, her voice deep and hoarse like a heavy smoker's. "No one will hear you. I took care of that guard and nurse."

"Yoo will come wid us," the male intruder said.

Rapunzel knew that voice!

"You were in the forest!" Rapunzel exclaimed. "You pushed Eugene out of the coach!"

Rapunzel felt an unpleasant feeling that she had never felt before take over her. An intense, red hot anger bubbled up from somewhere inside her. It buzzed in her ears, turned her vision red and sent electricity to her muscles making them tense and shake.

"I'll make you pay for what you did to Eugene!" Rapunzel shrieked. "I'm not some defenseless little girl anymore."

With a flick of her wrist, she undid the ties in her hair, letting her seventy or so feet of hair unfurl around her like flower petals opening. She grabbed two lengths of hair and took a fighting stance.

"Do your worst!" the man said.

The princess swung one lock of hair and shot it off towards the Arendelle bandit. He raised the oak chair and deflected Rapunzel's hair attack. The lock of hair wrapped around the back of the chair in a way that Rapunzel was unable to immediately pull it free. Using her other lock of hair she flicked it at the man's ankles, pulling the chair to the side as she did so, tripping the man.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the female intruder was moving towards the bed where Eugene was still sleeping soundly. Thinking quickly, Rapunzel swung the chair at the woman. The female intruder was very quick on her feet and dived out of the way of the heavy chair. Rapunzel's move wasn't completely in vain. The chair splintered into several pieces against the wall, freeing her hair. Pieces of the chair went in all directions, a few of the pieces rained down on the female intruder, causing her to curl up into a ball and cover her head. In her haste to protect her head, she had dropped her knife. It skittered away from her to somewhere under the bed. Rapunzel gathered her hair back up and prepared for her next attack.

The Arendelle bandit pulled himself free and stood up as Rapunzel was occupied with the other intruder.

"Bitch," he spat out. "You're lucky the boss needs you alive!"

The man ran at her, Rapunzel flicked two locks of hair at him. One lock wrapped around his raised right hand and the other wrapped around his neck. She yanked him forward, bringing him to his knees. Turning, she checked on the other intruder.

To her horror, the woman pulled the pillow out from under Eugene's head. With the pillow poised over the man's head, she turned to Rapunzel.

"You will come with us," she said matter-of-factly. "Or I will finish this man off."

"Like I told you in the woods," the Arendelle bandit said from his position on the floor. "You will never be safe."

Rapunzel released him from her hair. She took a step towards the woman.

"Please, don't hurt him," she pleaded.

The masked woman responded by placing the pillow over Eugene's face and pressing down.

"Get back," she said. "Walk to the wall, face it and put your hands behind your back."

Shaking with rage, Rapunzel managed to do as she was told. She looked behind her at the woman. She had not removed the pillow.

"Let him be! I'm doing as you say!"

The woman removed the pillow, but remained with it in her hand, standing next to the bed. The Arendelle bandit came up behind the princess and pushed her up against the wall with one large hand to the back of her neck. With the other hand, he fixed one cuff of a pair of shackles to her left wrist. He was moving to put the other cuff on her right wrist when the door to the room burst open and a smoking bag rolled part way into the room. The room quickly began filling up with acrid smelling smoke.

Through the doorway in rushed the guard who had been stationed at Eugene's room. Breathing heavily, he rushed at the Arendelle bandit with his sword. The intruder, his eyes watering and his lungs filling with the smoke, had no time to defend himself from the guard's attack. The visibly unsteady guard caught the man in his right shoulder, burying the sword a quarter of its length. The male intruder screamed and collapsed to the floor as the sword was removed. The guard also collapsed. Rapunzel caught a good look at his blood soaked uniform. The source of the blood appeared to be a wound in his chest.

Rapunzel saw the shape of the female intruder rush out of the room, but she knew she had more immediate problems. She quickly grabbed the pitcher of water left for her in the room and dumped it over the homemade smoke bomb, putting it out. Using her hair, she opened all of the windows.

"Princess…"

Rapunzel kneeled down next to the young guard, clasping his hand. Grabbing the nearest piece of fabric near her, one of Eugene's extra blankets. She pressed it to his wound.

"You're going to be alright," she told him.

In a louder voice, she shouted at the hallway, "Help, I need help! Can anyone hear me?"

"I'm sorry I failed you," the guard gasped.

"No, no you saved me."

"They got…the drop on me…"

He began to cough and weakly grab at his chest.

Two ghost white nurses rushed into the room and took over tending to the guard at that moment. About ten seconds after that, several guards arrived and pulled the wounded intruder out of the room. Everything after that was a blur for Rapunzel. The only things she was aware of during that time was the constant movement around her and the low buzzing in her head. A few guards and nurses tried to speak with her, but she couldn't seem to hear them. It wasn't until she heard one familiar voice that she snapped back to reality.

"Hey, Blondie."

Rapunzel jumped up from the chair a nurse had made her sit in and flew to his side. She looked into his half lidded, brown eyes. The look in them was tired, but happy.

"I'm glad to see you," he said quietly.

She managed a croaking laugh.

"I'm glad to see you," she said, clasping his hand.

"The room…" he began.

"The bandits were here to take me again."

Eugene's forehead creased with concern.

"Are you OK?"

"Yes, they didn't hurt me," Rapunzel nodded.

"You defeated them?"

"Yes, but barely, with help. We are going to be moving you somewhere safer. The doctor wanted to keep you here in the hospital, but it clearly isn't as secure as we need it to be."

"Will you come with me?"

"Of course," she said, smiling a little and brushing a few strands of hair out of Eugene's face.

"Then I'll go wherever you…need…me to…"

Eugene's voice trailed off and his eyes drooped closed. After a couple of seconds he was snoring softly.

Rapunzel managed a smile and a giggle.

"Get some sleep," she whispered.

"Rapunzel."

The princess turned around at the sound of her father's voice. Her mother, Cass and the Captain with him. They all filed into the room. Queen Ariana hurried to her daughter and enveloped her in a hug.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes, mother, they didn't hurt me."

Queen Ariana released Rapunzel and looked to Eugene.

"He was awake for a little bit just before you came in," Rapunzel said. "How is the guard? Have you heard anything?"

"The doctors are hopeful," the Captain said. "Officer Dale Morris is a resilient young man. They said the knife missed all his organs and major blood vessels, so he has a good chance of making a full recovery. They are prepping him for surgery now."

"Captain, we must make sure this brave young man receives a medal of valor and compensation for his act of bravery and selflessness," King Frederic said.

"You have my word, sire," the Captain said. "He will receive full honors, along with that poor nurse. Hers will go to her family."

"I'll be sending them monetary compensation as well," the king said. "Although, that can't and won't make up for the loss of a loved one."

Rapunzel blinked in confusion. Then she remembered what one of the intruders had told her.

"The intruders said they took care of a guard and a nurse," she said. "They killed a nurse, didn't they?"

"Yes, they did, King Frederic said sadly. "It was at the same time they attacked Officer Morris. They entered the hospital wing through a room window across the hall from this one. It appears that nurse Lavinia Huss was on her way to check on Eugene when the intruders jumped her. The medical staff told us that she died almost instantly of her injuries."

Rapunzel felt dizzy. The others in the room all noticed her become unsteady on her feet. The Captain and her father guided her to a chair, Cass got her a glass of water and her mother wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

"I can't believe someone would kill over me," Rapunzel said. "First, Gothel tried to kill Eugene in the tower. Now there are bandits breaking into the palace and killing innocent people to get at me. People who have no real connections to me. She just worked here."

Queen Ariana put an arm around her daughter's shoulders.

"Rapunzel, none of this is your fault," she said, in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "You didn't ask for this. The only ones at fault are those two and whoever sent them here."

"They said I was lucky their boss needed me alive."

"Well, we all already guessed that," King Frederic said. "We know they will stop at nothing to get at you. I am imposing an indefinite lockdown of the entire palace. No nonessential palace staff will be permitted inside. Guards will have to be working overtime until we find the mole and his or her boss."

The Captain saluted.

The next few hours were a flurry of activity. Eugene was moved into a stateroom right next to Rapunzel's room. Pete and Stan were posted inside his room. An additional guard was posted outside his door. Cass set up a trundle bed in the princess' room.

Rapunzel couldn't believe how many guards actually worked at the palace. She had never seen them all in one spot. They had all been ordered to report for a briefing in the ballroom. Rapunzel sat in through part of it, but found she couldn't concentrate, so she and Cass took their leave. Instead, they watched as nonessential palace personnel filed out of the main palace doors. There were kitchen and wait staff, some nurses, stable hands, gardeners, most maintenance workers and maids. Rapunzel stood at the door and thanked them all and told them that she hoped to see them back soon.

Later, Cass and Rapunzel were in Eugene's room. He had not woken up since that one time in the hospital room. The guards Tim and Stan stood at the door, remaining quiet, but listening to the princess' and lady-in-waiting's conversation.

"We have to put an end to this," Rapunzel said.

The princess was sitting on the edge of Eugene's bed.

"What are you thinking?" Cass asked.

"Maybe if we set a trap, catch them off guard."

"What kind of trap?"

"We could catch them in the act of trying to kidnap me," Rapunzel said. "I know it is risky, but it will be the only way to get them out of the shadows."

Cassandra took a deep breath.

"That sounds awfully risky, Raps," Cass said and then paused. "But it might actually work. We would have to be very prepared."

"And my parents can't know about it," Rapunzel slid a look at the two guards. Stan could be seen visibly grinding his teeth. "They would put an end to any plans we have."

Cass nodded in agreement.

"Well tell me your idea, Raps."

* * *

"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

Queen Ariana turned at the sound of her husband's voice. She was standing at the window in their bedroom. Her arms were wrapped around her torso as she looked out over the early morning palace grounds. She had been standing like that for about an hour. Everything on the other side of the window was bright and colorful. The palace gardens were overflowing with the dozens of species of flowers the gardeners planted every spring. But, Ariana couldn't see the cheerful brightness at that moment. Her mind had wandered into darker places. Much as it often did during the eighteen years that Rapunzel was missing.

She turned to King Frederic.

"You were right all along," she said. "You were right to want to keep her in the palace, out of public view. Out of the view of those who would want to take her away again."

Frederic hugged his wife close.

"No, I realize now I was doing all that out of fear. I didn't want to lose her again, but I couldn't lock her up again. I would have lost her anyway if I did that. We can only do the best we can. I promise you, Ariana, I won't let anything happen to Rapunzel."


	5. Dark Places

"Rapunzel?"

The golden-haired princess' head snapped to attention. She had dozed off in the chair she had placed at Eugene's bedside. Rubbing at a crick in her neck, she smiled down at the brunette.

"Where am I?" the brunette asked, using his eyes to look around.

Gratefully, Rapunzel noted that his voice was stronger than it was during his first period of consciousness. His eyes were more focused as well. Eugene grimaced a little.

"You OK, Blondie? You look pale.

"She's exhausted," Cass said, striding over to the opposite side of the bed from Rapunzel. "Of course she looks pale."

"We moved you to a room right by mine," Rapunzel said. "We are neighbors now! Father and the Captain felt it would be a safer place than in the hospital. Pete and Stan are here to watch over you."

"Hey, Eugene," Pete called from the doorway.

"We won't let anyone through," Stan said.

"I remember now," Eugene said. "You said there were bandits trying to capture you while I was in the hospital wing."

Rapunzel nodded.

"One of them got away, a woman," she told him. "The other one, the one that pushed you out of the coach, is in the dungeon. He's refusing to speak to anyone."

"He dares return?" Eugene said, loudly. "Let me see him. I'll pay him back for what he's done to you, Rapunzel."

Rapunzel placed a gentle hand on his forearm, shushing him.

"Eugene, don't worry. Cass and I have a plan on finding the people responsible for the attacks on me. You just rest."

"I am…"

There was a knock on the door at that moment. Stan opened the door a few inches before admitting the Queen.

"Rapunzel, Dr. Mal is here. She would like to speak with you."

"Dr. Mal…" Rapunzel trailed off.

She realized that she had forgotten to take any of her medications since the attack in the woods the day before.

"I'm not supposed to see her today," she said. "I was set up to…"

"It's all right, your highness," Dr. Mal said, stepping around Stan and Pete and into the room. "Your mother contacted me and asked me to come to the palace to see you."

"Oh, I see…" Rapunzel said quietly.

Is it me or does she look reptilian? Rapunzel thought, noting that Dr. Mal's movements around Stan and Pete had been extremely fluid, almost like slithering.

"If you are feeling up to it, of course," Dr. Mal continued.

Rapunzel nodded after a moment. The mind doctor motioned towards the door.

"Alright then, let's go somewhere quieter to talk."

"We can go to me room," Rapunzel said, standing from her chair.

The princess turned back to Eugene and took his hand.

"I won't be gone long, OK," she said, squeezing his hand.

Eugene nodded, but said nothing.

Rapunzel lead Dr. Mal out of Eugene's room and one door over to her own. Cass attempted to enter along with the two women, but Rapunzel stopped her at the door.

"This won't take very long, Cass," Rapunzel said. "Please wait here, on the outside of the room."

Cass looked unsure for a moment, but finally gave a nod.

"I promise, this won't take long," Rapunzel assured her again, closing the door.

Rapunzel turned to face Dr. Mal and her room. The doctor was sitting on her bed, running a hand over the silk duvet, her eyes following the movements of her hand. She began speaking as she used a finger to trace the stitching that crisscrossed the duvet in a flowing and swirling pattern.

"The queen filled me in on what has occurred during the past two days."

Rapunzel stepped over to the bedside, but said nothing.

"It's terrible what has happened to your young lover, I noted the state he is in while we were in his room," Dr. Mal continued. "You seem to be taking it all well, though."

Dr. Mal stopped stroking the bed spread and looked up at the princess. The woman was holding her face in what at first seemed like a benevolent and gentle smile, but Rapunzel saw an odd glint in her eyes.

Or am I just seeing things? Rapunzel thought.

Dr. Mal cocked her head to the side slightly.

"Is everything alright, Princess?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"You appear…apprehensive," Dr. Mal said.

"I-I'm not," Rapunzel said. "It's…It's just been a long couple of days."

Dr. Mal smiled and stood up from the bed.

"I understand," she said, walking over to the long window seat. She sat down on it and patted a spot next to her. Rapunzel joined her and sat down, but a little farther away than the spot Dr. Mal had patted.

"From what I see now," Dr. Mal continued as soon as the princess was seated, "You are handling all that happened very well. I would have expected a nostalgia relapse. This speaks highly of your mental fortitude and character."

"Thank you," Rapunzel smiled.

"But, I fear that once all the trauma from the past twenty-four hours catches up to you, it will be very traumatic for you."

"I…well, maybe it could be."

Dr. Mal nodded knowingly, interlacing her fingers and placing them on her lap.

"I would recommend a sedative to help you sleep. You seem very tired."

Rapunzel shook her head quickly.

"No, I need to be able to look after Eugene. He needs me."

"He has a castle full of people to help him recover, dear," Dr. Mal said. "You need to think about your own recovery."

"Well, maybe…"

"Of course, there's always…"

Dr. Mal trailed off, letting her words hang in the air. Rapunzel waited for her to continue speaking, but she didn't.

"Always, what?" Rapunzel asked, impatiently. "Why did you stop speaking?"

"Your hair," Dr. Mal said, looking hard into Rapunzel's eyes. "You say it no longer has any healing properties. But, is that true?"

"I am not a liar."

Dr. Mal smiled at Rapunzel.

"I'm not saying you are. Let me explain myself. You acquired your magical hair differently the two times you got it. The first time, you were just born with it. It was your parents who essentially gave it to you through your mother consuming the magic flower. The second time, this time, you somehow acquired it by returning to the spot where the magic flower originally grew."

"I don't understand how returning to the spot the flower grew returned my hair," Rapunzel told her. "I didn't know that would happen when Cass and I visited the spot."

"I have wondered about that as well," Dr. Mal said. "Anyway, since the conditions you received your hair were different each time, could the way to summon your healing ability be different?"

Rapunzel thought about this for a minute or two.

"I don't know of any other way, except the enchantment Mother Gothel taught me."

"We could try some experimenting," Dr. Mal said, excitedly. "Oh, we could…"

The dark-haired woman's voice trailed off and her eyes glazed over as she appeared to become lost in her own thoughts. There was a slight smirk on her face.

"Dr. Mal?"

The woman blinked and her eyes focused on the princess.

"Oh, I am sorry dear. I was just running some scenarios through my head and trying…"

"I already have someone trying to help me unlock the secret to my hair," Rapunzel told her quickly. "I don't think I need any more help with it at this time."

Rapunzel remembered the uneasy feeling Dr. Mal had given her after their first meeting. Now, in her room, it was growing even stronger. The dark look the mind doctor was giving her was only reinforcing those feelings.

There is definitely something off about her, Rapunzel thought.

"Well, if you don't want my help," Dr. Mal almost growled.

Her hand had absently gone to tracing circles in the window seat cushion. The doctor was looking at a random spot on the stone floor out of the corner of her eyes.

"I do still recommend you take a sedative," she said, her voice ever so slightly quavering. "It will ensure you get a good night's rest and it will keep any nightmares at bay."

"Thank you, but I don't want a sedative," Rapunzel said resolutely. "My place is with Eugene, helping him recover. I can't do that if I am asleep."

Dr. Mal stood and stared at the princess. Rapunzel could tell the woman was struggling to keep herself under control. Under the woman's pale skin and behind her clear, green eyes, Dr. Mal was seething. She finally just smiled at the princess.

"As you wish, your highness," the woman said, starting towards the door. "Send a messenger to me if you change your mind and I will send over the medicine. Have a good day, child."

Rapunzel didn't turn to watch the woman leave or move to follow her out. A cold sweat had set in making her skin clammy and her entire body feel freezing cold. She shrieked with fright as someone placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Raps, are you alright?"

Rapunzel took a deep breath and nodded.

"I didn't mean to scare you," the lady-in-waiting said. "I saw Dr. Mal leave and wanted to check up with you. Did something happen? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"The first time we met, I got this strange vibe from her," Rapunzel said. "There's something about her…It's hard to explain. She was reminiscent of…"

But, it can't be, Rapunzel thought. There's no way she could be like her.

"Reminiscent of who, Raps?" Cass pressed.

"Oh, no one," Rapunzel shook her head. "It's her eyes. When she smiles, it never reaches her eyes. They are like portals into a very dark place."

"Rapunzel," Cassandra said sternly. "You said she was reminiscent of someone or something. What did you mean?"

"I…Her eyes, they were like Mother Gothel's eyes, her smiles never reached them either."

Cass didn't believe that was all there was to it, but she decided to let the topic drop for the time being. She had gone to talk to Rapunzel for a specific reason.

"Did you want to go question the intruder that was caught and the prisoners in the dungeon like we planned earlier?" Cass asked. "Unless you don't feel up to it…"

"Oh no, I feel up to it," Rapunzel said, gruffly. "He has a lot to answer for. Let's go. Then we can head out to gather information on that Anthony bandit."

Before heading to the dungeon, Rapunzel checked on Eugene. He had dozed off again and her mother was sitting in the chair the young woman had placed next to the bed. Queen Ariana assured her daughter that she would keep watch over the young man so that Rapunzel could have a break and get some rest.

Rapunzel and Cassandra both silently decided to not inform the queen of what they were actually planning on doing and left Eugene's room. They hurried towards the dungeon hoping that the Arendelle bandit would be cooperative with them.

* * *

Veda Mal settled back in the cushioned, maroon-colored seat of her personal coach. She had managed to keep a pleasant expression on her face as she made her way out of the palace, bidding farewell to King Frederic as the two passed in the main hall. But now that she was alone and on her way home, her face fell into a sour grimace.

That girl…that child, she thought. Is she on to me?

Veda shook her head. The princess couldn't be onto her. How could she be?

The coach had made it out of Corona and continued towards Dr. Mal's country villa located just a few miles outside of the city limits. The middle-aged woman looked out of the window and gasped slightly in surprise. She leaned forward and knocked on the front panel of the coach, signaling the driver to stop. Veda opened the coach door and leaned out.

"Jen," she called to a woman walking along the side of the gravel road, the source of her surprise.

The very thin, darkly clad woman turned and approached Veda. Dr. Mal returned to her seat in the coach.

"Get in here, Jen," she ordered. "What do you think you are doing?"

The woman referred to as Jen did as she was told, shutting the door behind her. She sat on the seat opposite the mind doctor. Veda signaled the driver to continue to her house.

"Sorry, boss," Jen said. "With Bjorn captured, I couldn't go back to the inn. He could rat me out and they would go there for sure. I'm just glad that we weren't staying at the same place Tony was."

"Your little group has done nothing but fail me," Veda growled. "There were two of you against her last night and three of you in the woods and she bested you both times."

"She is very well guarded," Jen said. "Her friends are loyal and resourceful. Can't you do something? You have an inside…"

"I can't risk exposing him to the royal family," Veda shook her head. "He'd be useless to me then."

A gleam came into the mind doctor's eyes.

"Much like you are to me."

Too fast for the eye to follow, Veda threw a gleaming object across the cab. The woman referred to as Jen gasped and coughed, clutching at a silver hilted dagger that seemed to just appear between her breasts. She managed to emit a final gurgling gasp before she went still.

Dr. Mal sat calmly in her seat, her eyes twin pools darkness staring unemotionally at the dead woman before her. The woman sneered.

"I'll find a nice dark place for you," she said to the lifeless body.

* * *

"Are you sure about dis princess?"

Rapunzel and Cassandra looked resolutely at the palace dungeon's tall and broad-shouldered head warden. Angus "Bull" Murphy had been the head warden of the palace dungeons for five years and had worked there as a guard for fifteen. Despite his long residency in Corona, he still proudly spoke with the distinctive brogue of his home island country.

"Very much so," Rapunzel responded.

Pascal, who was perched on Rapunzel's shoulder, nodded his head, agreeing with his mistress. He had finally shaken off the lingering effects of the sedative and had insisted on accompanying the princess on her questioning of the Arendelle bandit.

"Well, he hasn't said a word to anyone while he's been down here," Eisner said. "The captain and the king have tried questioning him, quite aggressively I might add. He's even refusing his pain medication. His wound is serious, but survivable. I would tink that it would be very painful to him, but he doesn't appear to care."

"Just the same, I'd like to give it a try," the princess said. "Maybe seeing me will put him off guard."

"Couldn't hurt to try, I suppose," Warden Murphy said, opening the barred door leading towards the dungeon wing the man was housed in. "I will stay wit you in case dere is trouble."

The bandit's cell was the first cell down the hall. Rapunzel looked in through the five inch by five inch grate set in the heavy oak door. The large man didn't turn to look towards her, even though she was sure he had heard them speaking and opening the gate just outside his door. He was sitting on his bunk, his shoulders hunched over; his right arm in a sling. His shirt was unbuttoned and Rapunzel could see that his chest was heavily bandaged.

Warden Murphy unlocked the door and opened it for the two women, following them into the small cell. He stood at the ready just inside the doorway while the other two stepped to face the bandit. Only then did the man look up at them. His face was pale and clammy with sweat. His head was recently shaved bald, but the shadow of dark hair remained, showing that the hair at the front and a spot at the back was quickly receding. Icey blue eyes stared Rapunzel defiantly in the eye.

"Your highness," he sneered. "I've been honored by the presence of nearly all of the royal family now. Next vill be your tasty mother."

The man ran his tongue over his lips and leered at Rapunzel.

Rapunzel felt herself become enraged and her fists seemed to ball up on their own accord.

"Why you…" she growled before snapping herself out it.

This is what he wants, she thought. Remain calm.

The princess smiled benignly at the man.

"You know well who I am," she said, trying to sound officious and powerful. "This is my lady-in-waiting and personal bodyguard, Cassandra. What can I call you?"

The man said nothing, just sneered at her.

"Very well," Rapunzel said. "I'll give you a name…Bob. Yes, Bob will do. But you are from Arendelle. I can tell from your accent. So, it'll have to be Sven."

The man remained silent, only raising an eyebrow slightly.

"You know, Sven, you do look like you are in pain," Rapunzel said, solicitously. "I can have the warden here get you your meds. You don't need to suffer."

"Pfft, let him suffer, Raps," Cassandra scoffed. "Remember what he did to Eugene just the other day. He stabbed a nurse to death and then nearly killed a loyal guard. He deserves what pain he gets."

"Everyone deserves sympathy, Cass," Rapunzel said, turning back to the man. "Sven, please just tell us who your boss is. I will make sure you get good treatment here. I'm the princess, I can do that. I'm sure you were just hired by someone. You don't have to go down alone."

The man looked away from the two women, a petulant look coming over his face.

"I think he's scared, Raps," Cass said. "Sven are you scared? Are you scared, Sven? You should be scared, Sven, but of us!"

Cass rushed forward and shoved the man up against the wall. He cried out in pain, his face growing very pale.

"Tell us what we want to know, Sven! You've done enough damage, Sven!"

The man wailed as Cass pressed against his injury with her knuckles.

"Stop calling me Sven!" the man shouted, crying out in pain again.

"Back off, Cass, he's had enough!" Rapunzel said, pulling Cass back.

The man slumped against the wall, groaning and panting.

"Fine, my name is Bjorn. Just don't call me Sven…That was my father's name."

"Bjorn," Rapunzel said, softly. "Can I look at your wound?"

The man looked quizzically at the princess before nodding. The head warden kept his hand on the hilt of his sword as Rapunzel gently checked the stab wound's front and back. No apparent damage had been done by Cass' actions. The young woman stepped back to stand next to a panting Cassandra.

"Princess…" the man said, quietly. "You shouldn't show me mercy. I knew vat I vas doing."

"I shouldn't, but I know that you can help me. I know you aren't acting on your own."

"What Cassandra said is the truth," Bjorn said. "I am scared. There's nothing you can do to me that will make me give up my boss. I don't know what she looks like or her real name anyway."

"Your boss is a woman?" Rapunzel asked, surprised. "Did you ever meet her?"

The man looked from the princess to Cass to the head warden and back to the princess. He shook his head in defeat.

"You are a strong young woman, princess," he said. "You've proven to be resourceful. Very, vell, I'll tell you vat I know. She mostly dealt with Jen Sax, my gang's leader. There's also Vince, he was the coach driver when we took you in the woods. There was also Tony, but as you know, he was run over by the coach. The woman who hired us, I only met her once. She wore a snake mask and a black hood. Jen referred to her as the Serpent. I don't know anything more about her."

"How did Jen know her?" Rapunzel asked.

"Tony was the one who told us about the job. I don't know how he knew about it."

"Damn," Cass said. "There's no way to ask him."

"Where were you staying prior to this?" Rapunzel asked.

"At the Crabapple Inn here in Corona," Bjorn said. "But, Jen is no fool. She von't return there."

"Is that where Tony was staying?" Rapunzel asked.

"No, he was staying with a friend of his, I don't know the name. It vas on Struther Street. Some seedy book shop or something like that. Some type of shop."

"There are many shops on that street," Cass muttered to Rapunzel. "This could turn into a wild goose chase. Also, how do we know he's being truthful?"

"I believe him," Rapunzel said.

"Raps, he's a bandit. When their mouths are moving, they are lying."

Rapunzel looked at the slumped over man on the bunk. His eyes were empty as he stared at the floor.

"It's just the feeling I'm getting from him. He knows he will either be hung by us for his crimes or killed by his boss for his failure. He has nothing left to lose."

Rapunzel stepped forward.

"Thank you for your help, Bjorn," Rapunzel said. "I'll make sure my father knows that you helped me. I will make sure he shows you leniency. I just have a couple more questions. Where would Vince have gone?"

"I don't know," he said. "Not for sure. We have a hide out in the mountains to the south, close to the border. He probably went there with Jen. I doubt the Serpent would keep us on to capture you."

"Do you know why you were hired to capture me?"

"No, our only orders were that you were to remain alive."

"Could you draw me a map to your hide out?" Rapunzel asked.

The mad nodded. Rapunzel produced a pencil and papers for him to use. As he worked, she continued to question him.

"What is Vince's last name?"

"I never asked."

"What do Jen Sax and Vince look like?"

"Jen is very thin, brown hair, brown eyes. She's in her forties. She has a 'z' shaped scar on her left cheek. Vince is also very thin. He is a blonde, in his twenties. Nothing about him really stands out. He always carries a short dagger on him that has a silver skull with tiny emerald eyes as the pommel. Here's the map as best I can draw."

"Thank you," Rapunzel said, taking the map. "How many of you are there in your gang?"

"Four all together, me, Jen, Vince and Tony."

"Thank you for your time," Rapunzel said. "We will leave you to heal now."

Bjorn shuddered.

"Ya, heal," he said glumly. "Heal for what? I only have dark places to look forward to."

Cass and Rapunzel followed Murphy out of the cell. For the remainder of the day, the trio questioned the prisoners about who they had seen go into and out of the dungeon the day Pascal had been found in a cell. No one had seen anyone with the chameleon, but by the end of their questioning, Rapunzel and Cass had a list of names of everyone who had been in the dungeon that day. The list was fairly long, containing the names of fifteen people, including wardens, palace guards and kitchen and medical staff. Rapunzel and Cass planned on questioning each and every one of them. The mole had to be one of those fifteen people.


	6. Closing In

"Eugene, no, you are not coming with us! You are in no condition!"

Rapunzel stood, arms crossed, brows furrowed, alongside Eugene's bed. Stan and Pete stood nervously a few feet behind her, their gazes moving from Rapunzel to Eugene and back again.

Upon hearing what Rapunzel's and Cassandra's plan for the morning was, he'd insisted on going with them, stating he was worried about another attack on the princess. He'd managed to sit up and swing his legs over the side of the bed. The pained look on his face had brought the princess running to his side. Despite her admonishments, he'd continued to insist on getting out of bed. And now, Rapunzel stood in front of him, physically blocking him from attempting to stand.

"I can't just sit here another moment!" Eugene exclaimed. "I am a man of action! I am bored to death…"

Rapunzel's face turned pale as the word came out of his mouth. Eugene instantly regretted his word choice. He reached out and took her hand from the crook of her arm.

"I'm sorry, Rapunzel," he said, softly. "I'm going to be fine. I didn't die and not going to, not until I'm very old."

The blonde princess gulped and nodded. Eugene pulled her gently towards him to sit next to him on the bed.

"Rapunzel, I know you've been sitting up at night with me," he said. "You look absolutely exhausted. You're going to crash at some point. Let your father and the captain take care of the investigation."

"I can't do that, Eugene."

"Why not?"

"All this pain and death is because of me," Rapunzel said. "I have to make it stop. I can't let anyone else be hurt because of me. I'm not chained up in a tower anymore. I'm not some weak little maiden."

Eugene shook his head and sighed.

"Rapunzel, you have never been a weak, little maiden. Remember our first meeting?"

Rapunzel nodded.

"I'm glad you do," Eugene chuckled, rubbing a spot on his scalp. "I don't so much. You deliver a mean frying pan to the head. And you remember the last time we were in the tower, after Gothel had stabbed me? You stood up to her and forced her to let you help me. You were willing to give up your own life for someone you care about. That takes strength and courage."

"But, I was afraid…"

"Fear is a normal thing, you were able to overcome it," Eugene said, cupping her cheek with his hand. "You are brave and smart. You are anything but weak."

Cass walked into the room.

"Raps, I'm ready to head out. Max and my father are insisting on coming with us."

"The captain?" Rapunzel asked, slightly surprised.

"I gave him conditions," Cass told her. "He has to wear civilian clothes. No one from Struthers Street will want to help us if there is an obvious guard around."

"Cassandra, no!" Eugene exclaimed. "You can't encourage this! I mean, look at Rapunzel! She's pale, there are dark circles under her eyes! The princess with endless energy is exhausted! She needs to stay in the castle where it is safe and she can rest."

Eugene set his good leg firmly on the floor and grabbed ahold of the arm of the wheelchair he had been provided with.

"I'll go instead of Rapunzel," he grunted as he tried to maneuver himself into the chair.

Rapunzel put a hand on his shoulder, easily restraining the man in his weakened state, her mouth set in a grim line.

"I won't allow it, Eugene," she said.

The princess turned to Pete and Stan.

"He's not to leave his bed," she instructed them.

"Yes, princess," the guards chorused.

Eugene sighed and slouched his shoulders in apparent defeat. Cass and Rapunzel exchanged nods.

"But Eugene, there is something you could help us with," Rapunzel said. "You won't have to go anywhere to do it."

"What is it?"

"I was planning on doing it once we got back from Struthers Street," Rapunzel said. "This will save some time. You will interview the fifteen suspects we have for the castle mole."

"Fifteen, that many?" Eugene said.

"Everyone who was in the dungeon the day Pascal was left down there," Rapunzel said.

Cass pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Eugene. It had the fifteen names along with each person's job title.

"Unless you think you aren't up to the task, Fitzerbert," Cass mocked.

"Oh, I'm up to it, Cassandra," Eugene said. I'll weed out our snake in the grass."

"Good," Cass exclaimed. "And here's your first suspect!"

The lady-in-waiting hurried to where Pete was still standing. She placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed his towards Eugene's bed.

"Pete was named as one of the fifteen people seen in the dungeon that morning," Cass said.

"What?" Pete exclaimed. "You think I put the princess' lizard in the dungeon?"

"This is outrageous!" Stan cried, stepping in front of the younger guard. "You can't believe that Pete of all people would harm your little lizard?"

"And what are you talking about, snake in the grass?" Pete asked. "I heard you say something about that. Are you questioning my loyalty or something?"

Rapunzel, Cass and Eugene looked at one another. They realized that only the royal family and select castle supervisors knew of the hunt for a mole amongst the staff and the true reason for most of the staff being ordered to leave the castle. They had all been told that there was the possibility of further attacks after the intruders attacked the guard and killed the nurse. They had been told that they were being sent home for their own safety.

"Pete, Stan, I'm sorry," Rapunzel said. "There's been a lot going on that you haven't been told. Cass and I spoke to the prisoners in the dungeon to try and find out who left Pascal down there two days ago. I'm sure you both know about that."

"We're just trying to find the proverbial snake that drugged and dumped him there and to find out why he or she did it," Cass continued.

Up to that point, Cass felt it best to omit the fact that once they found whoever put the chameleon in the dungeon, they would find the palace mole. She didn't want either man to slip that a mole was suspected in the castle and that person to on the run. She realized that she had made a mistake in how they were going to handle questioning their fifteen suspects. They had taken for granted that many castle staff members were their friends and were nearly always around. They might not even be noticed when they were nearby and she, Rapunzel or Eugene might accidentally alert the mole, either by a loyal staff member overhearing them and telling others or by the mole his or herself overhearing.

But as usual, the blonde princess had her own, often naïve way of doing things. And as usual, she proceeded to totally derail Cass' plan.

"What I am about to tell you does not leave this room," Rapunzel said, trying to sound stern. "My enemies have a mole in the castle that is loyal to them. That is why most of the palace staff was sent home yesterday."

"I knew it," Stan said, slamming the bottom of his balled up right hand into the palm of his left. "I knew there was more to it than just fear of an attack."

"So you suspect me of being the mole?" Pete squeaked in distress. His eyes teared up. "I-I thought…I thought you trusted me."

Rapunzel hurried to his side and put an arm around his shoulders.

"I do trust you, but we have to ask everyone," she told him. "I'm also trusting you and Stan no to not tell anyone that we suspect a mole inside the palace."

"I'm sorry this whole situation right now is my fault," Cassandra said. "I should've been more sensitive in how I revealed to you that you were going to be questioned, Pete. I apologize."

Pete wiped his eyes.

"I forgive you. I won't tell a soul about the mole, you can count on me."

"You can count on me as well, princess," Stan said, saluting. "Just let me know how I can help. It makes my blood boil thinking that someone amongst us would betray the princess."

"Ask me anything you like," Pete said. "I would never harm the little lizard."

"I will leave your questioning to Eugene," Rapunzel said, stepping with Cass towards the door. "We are headed to Struthers Street. Stan, Pete, please make sure Eugene stays in bed. Bring anyone he needs to talk to here to his room and also, don't let him overexert himself."

The two guards saluted.

"Yes, princess."

* * *

"Captain…you look so different," Rapunzel exclaimed. "I like it."

The Captain of the Royal Guard stood ramrod straight next to Maximilian as they waited for the princess and Cass at the entrance to the palace stables. While the horse was outfitted in his usual bridle and saddle and his mane and tail were arranged in their usual style, the Captain was an entirely different matter. The middle-aged man was dressed in a white tunic with an unbuttoned brown leather vest over it, forest green breeches and brown leather, knee high boots. His head was bare, revealing his receding hairline.

"Thank you, princess," he said gruffly. "I just want to say, I don't think this is a good idea."

"It'll be fine, Captain," Rapunzel said. "I trust you and Max and Cass."

The Captain shook his head.

"Let's just get this over with. A the first sign of any possible trouble, we're coming straight back to the castle."

* * *

"So, Pete, why were you in the dungeons two days ago?" Eugene asked.

Eugene was sitting in his bed, propped up by pillows. Over his lap was a bed tray. On the tray Eugene had arranged a pen, an ink bottle and a brand new notebook. He had the notebook open. At the top of the first page was Pete's name.

Pete stood next to Eugene's bed, nervously scratching at his neck.

"I was covering for one of the dungeon guards who needed the morning off. I was there from 8 a.m. to noon."

"Who was the dungeon guard?"

"Mel Rose, uh Melody Rose, is her name," Pete responded, blushing.

"So, that's the girl's name," Stan said, loudly. "I've been trying to get the name of the girl he is sweet on from him for weeks."

Pete blushed an even deeper scarlet, but didn't respond to Stan's teasing.

"She asked me to cover for her for four hours, we're friends and I wasn't on shift until the afternoon, so I agreed. I got four extra hours pay and I could use the money."

"How long before that day did she ask you to cover her shift?" Eugene asked.

"The day before…I was on shift when she asked me. It was around dinner time."

"Where were you when she asked?"

"In the guards' dining room grabbing a bite to eat," Pete said. "I was on my meal break, I was there about fifteen minutes eating. She approached me during that time."

"Did she what she needed the time off for?" Eugene asked.

"She said it was an appointment…I think. I'm not sure. She was acting…different during the entire conversation. I don't remember exactly what she said, just that she wanted me to cover part of her shift."

"How was she acting different? What do you mean by that?"

Pete's face had returned to its normal pale shade while answering Eugene's previous questions. Now, it pinked again as the blush returned. He returned to nervously scratching his neck.

"I…well I…If Stan knows then probably everyone knows," Pete gulped. "I like her and she obviously knew because she was flirting with me that day and when I agreed she kissed me on the cheek. She'd never acted like that towards me before. I mean, she's always been nice and says hello, but nothing more than that. I've never said anything other than hello to her and she's never said much more than that to me."

Eugene's pen was scratching furiously as he took down all that Pete was saying. He wasn't exactly a writer so he was having to scramble to write fast enough to get everything Pete said onto paper. He wasn't going to worry about the ink blots, poor penmanship and spelling errors he was leaving in his wake.

"This is very interesting," Eugene said. "I'll have to talk to her."

"Why? She wasn't even there that morning," Pete said. "You can't suspect her."

"It's just odd timing," Eugene said. "Have you ever worked in the dungeons before?"

"Now that you mention it," Stan interjected. "That was the first time you've ever worked down there."

"Stan's right," Pete nodded. "The guards down there had to show me what to do. I was just trying to help Mel out. There are no rules forbidding a palace guard from working in the dungeon. We all fall under the supervision of the Captain of the Guard and receive the same training."

Pete's shoulders drooped.

"It really sounds like she was using me."

Stan put a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Aye lad, there's not been a man who has never been swayed by a pretty girl at least once in their life," he said comfortingly. "Don't feel too badly about it. Eugene and I know you didn't do anything to the lizard."

Stan looked to Eugene.

"Right?"

Eugene nodded his head.

"I believe you Pete, I just had to ask," he said. "You've given me a lot of good information so far."

"I just can't believe she would betray the royal family," Pete said glumly. "Also…that would mean I played a part in it."

"Even if she is involved in a plot against the princess," Stan said. "That doesn't mean you are. You were just trying to help her. She knew you were sweet on her and used you. You can't blame yourself."

"She may not be involved, too," Eugene said. "It could have all been a coincidence. She wasn't named as a person seen in the dungeons at all that morning."

Pete blew a sigh of relief.

"I just a have few more questions for you, Pete," Eugene said, turning a page in his notebook.

"Ask me anything."

"What did you do while you were in the dungeons?"

"They had me help with the hourly checks and then help serve lunch."

"You checked the entire dungeon?"

"Yes, all wings and all cells."

"Who was with you?"

"Hmm, there was Cpl. Glosser, Chester, Mabel and Paul. I don't remember their last names."

"That's alright, I can find them. Anyone else?"

"There was a nurse there at the beginning, but I didn't get her name. She was checking up on the Stabbington brothers. You gave them good bumps on the head the other night, Eugene."

Pete chuckled at his last statement.

"For lunch there were three kitchen staff. I only recognized the cook Jim. The other two were women I didn't know. I think I've seen them around, but I can't be sure of where or when."

"Who was with you the most?"

"Cpl. Glosser, I shadowed him on all my checks. He's a good guy."

"Anyone else you saw down there?"

"Mary and Sam were there with the nurse to protect her. Mary Cross and Sam Jenkins are palace guards."

"Did you see anything you found interesting? Was there anything that stood out to you?"

"Not that I could tell," Pete shook his head. "I hadn't worked down there before so I wouldn't know if anything was off."

"Did Cpl. Glosser comment on anything?"

"Being off? No, I don't recall him saying anything like that…Well, he did seem to not initially recognize one of the cooks, the female cook, not Jim."

"What did he say?" Eugene asked.

"He didn't recognize her initially is all," Pete said. "I don't remember what she said her name was, but once she did say her name and he saw her up close, he recognized her and everything was fine."

"Is there anything else you think might help me?"

Pete thought for a few moments and shook his head.

"No, everything seemed normal as far as I could tell."

Eugene closed his notebook.

"Thanks for your help, Pete," he said. "Now I just need to see what I need to do next."

He pulled out the list Cassandra had given him and looked through it. He pointed to a spot on the paper the two guards couldn't see.

"The kitchen staff there that day were cook James Kent, your Jim, cook Sadie Manning and server Candy Price. You said the woman Glosser didn't recognize was a cook? It wasn't a server?"

"Yes it was the cook, she specifically stated that she was a cook," Pete told him. "Now that I hear the names, Sadie is right one."

"Cassandra has her, and Candy, marked as nonessential personnel. You know, I think I'll start with them. Stan, Pete, could you please have Jim, Sadie and Candy summoned to my room?"

"Can do, it may take a little while if Sadie and Candy are not on palace grounds."

"That is not a problem," Eugene said lying back against his pillows. "This investigation stuff is making me tired."

"You look really tired, you should get some rest," Stan said. "We can ask these three kitchen workers any questions you need asked for you. You shouldn't exert yourself, the princess would be quite upset if she found out that we let you overexert yourself."

Eugene waved a careless hand at them, closing his eyes.

"I'll rest while I'm waiting to question the three kitchen staff. You said it could take a little while. Don't let them talk to one another before I speak to them please,"

The two guards shared a concerned look before Stan spoke.

"We'll go have those three rounded up."

Eugene dozed off shortly after Stan and Pete stepped outside the room to summon an additional guard.

* * *

"The other guard said you wanted to see me?"

Stan looked over the elderly cook who stood before him, a puzzled look on his face. James Kent hadn't been hard to find, he was on shift in the kitchen that very day.

"I really need to get back to the kitchens," he said, dusting some flour residue from the sleeve of his chef's jacket. "We are severely short staffed due to the king's decree."

"I understand," Stan said, nodded. "We are all short staffed at the moment. I tried telling the king that this will only weaken us not protect us."

The chef nodded.

"I've worked at this palace fifty of my seventy-two years and we've been under threat before, no one was ever sent away like this, maybe a few here and there, but not a significant number of the staff. It is highly suspicious if you ask me."

"I couldn't agree with you more, but the king's orders are the king's orders."

"Hah, a typical guard type you are," Jim cackled. "Now, tell me, why am I here?"

"Sir Fitzerbert would like a word with you, it won't take very long," Stan said, opening the door to the bedroom.

Jim gave Stan a quizzical look and walked through the doorway. Pete stood on the inside of the door.

"He's still asleep," Pete whispered to Stan. "Do we really want to wake him?"

"Yes you do," Eugene said, groggily. He sat up and rubbed at his face. "I heard the door open. It's squeaky."

The man opened his notebook and dipped his pen in the ink well.

"Please state your name and position," he said, his voice still croaky from disuse and sleep.

"Jim Kent, I am the senior cook in the kitchens," Jim said and pointed to his gray hair. "In more ways than one, clearly."

"You served lunch in the dungeon two days ago?"

"Yes, breakfast too."

"Who were you with?" Eugene asked.

"Candy and Sadie, the usual staff that go with me."

"Was there anything off about the times you were in the dungeon?"

Jim gave Eugene a long look, frowning.

"Why are you asking about that day?" he finally said.

"Do you have something to tell me?"

"Don't answer a question with a question, boy," Jim said gruffly. "I know that the princess' pet was found drugged down there that day. Why else would you be asking me about what I was doing there that day? I serve the dungeons every day I'm on shift. Do you think I have something to do with it?"

"Not necessarily," Eugene said. "But you might have seen something that could help us."

Jim sighed and looked at the floor.

"I didn't want to say anything, she is a good girl."

"Who?"

"Sadie Manning, my assistant cook. I took her under my wing when she started three years ago and was training her to be my replacement when I retire in a year or two. She'd never do anything to harm anyone, but…"

"What happened?" Eugene asked when Jim trailed off.

"She was acting strange that morning," Jim shrugged. "Like really strange. She didn't know off the top of her head recipes that I know she knew by heart. She didn't know the setup we use for the meal cart and she looked off. She said she just hadn't been able to sleep the night before and was really tired and forgetful and thought she was coming down with something. I trust her so I just moved on."

"What do you mean she looked off though?"

"When I first saw her, I thought she was someone else," he said. "It's strange I know, but she always has her hair wrapped up in a certain way, but that day it wasn't perfect like she always has it. Her hair is ramrod straight, but that day it was frizzy. Once she said she hadn't slept the night before I just put it off as her having an off day. She was wearing way more make up than usual and her voice was all croaky and she was speaking softly. She had said she thought she was coming down with something. She also was walking a little differently, you know, holding herself differently. That's why when I first saw her across the kitchen, I thought she was someone else."

Jim paused for a few moments.

"I'm making her sound suspicious aren't I? She would never harm a fly, you have to believe me on that. Why would she harm the princess' lizard? There's no reason for it."

Eugene finished writing in his notebook before speaking again.

"Did you notice anything odd while you were in the dungeon? Anyone acting strangely?"

"The corporal who was there picked up on Sadie too," Jim said, not directly answering Eugene's question. "I didn't see anything out of the ordinary while I was there."

"Thank you for your help," Eugene said. "You can return to your duties. Please, don't discuss this interview or its topic until after I've given you the go ahead."

Jim Kent nodded, but said nothing as he left the room. He looked crestfallen.

"I think we should just go directly to speaking to this Sadie," Stan said. "There's something clearly going on there."

"I agree," Eugene said. "We need to speak to Melody Rose. Have her brought in as well."

* * *

"Any news?" Eugene asked as Stan stepped into the room. The middle-aged guard had a grim expression on his face.

"Sadie Manning is dead," he said bluntly.

"What?" Eugene exclaimed, Pete gasped.

"The guard I sent to her chambers found her," Stan said. "He said the door was locked, but there was some splintering to the door jamb. He spoke to her landlord and he let my man into Manning's place. She appears to have been strangled. Our palace doctor went out already, it was Dr. Rios, anyway she said that Sadie has been dead for at least two days, maybe more. The guard spoke to her neighbors and no one could remember seeing her for three days. She was very outgoing and popular in her neighborhood and often played with the local kids. They noticed her absence, but didn't think much of it. They had no reason to think something was wrong."

Eugene belatedly began writing all that Stan had just told him. Suddenly, there was the sound of a scuffle in the hallway outside Eugene's room. Pete stuck his head out to see what was going on. Jim Kent pushed past the young man and rushed up to Eugene in his bed. The elderly man's face was pale and his eyes were wide with shock.

"I h-heard what happened to Sadie!" he cried shrilly, his hands were shaking. "They said she's been dead for days, murdered! The girl was my protégé, like a daughter to me! Who did this? Who did this? You have to know what's going on!"

Stan pushed up a chair and had Jim sit down. Eugene pored him a glass of water from the pitcher on his bedside table. Stan handed the water to the distraught man. Jim took a few sips from the glass.

"That's about all we know too," Eugene told him.

"Your questions to me about the day in the dungeon," Jim said. "And Sadie's death, they are connected, I know it. Why else would you ask? Sadie was dead before anything happened to the lizard! Whoever that was, she wasn't Sadie. I was right and that corporal was right too. Whoever that was, she put the lizard in the dungeon…Do…do you think she was an intruder like the ones that attacked the princess in the medical wing?"

Jim fell silent for a moment. His eyebrows slowly rose as the facts he knew ran through his mind.

"What if the person masquerading as Sadie was one of us? One of the palace staff members? They would have to know the lay out of the dungeons and they would have to know when and how we serve meals and who was responsible for serving meals."

Eugene and Stan shared a knowing look. Stan placed a hand on Jim's shoulder.

"How about I take to you to the medical wing and have a nurse set you up with a room and something to help you rest?"

"What you afraid I'll spill the beans about you looking for a traitor? Don't look so surprised you three. I'm not stupid. I put the pieces together. Someone has to be feeding information to the royal family's enemies for them to know so much about the family and their movements. Why else would most staff members be sent away if not to try and eliminate the leak."

"You are very wise," Stan told Jim. "I'm not afraid that you will spill the beans, I'm afraid that you will give yourself a coronary. You are beet red and I can see your heart beating in your neck. You need a chance to calm down."

Jim nodded and stood up.

"I'll take your offer of going to medical wing."

Once Pete had escorted the old cook out of the room, Stan turned to Eugene.

"I had one more thing to tell you before we were interrupted," he said. "Melody Rose is on duty in the dungeons as we speak. I've positioned two palace guards at the entrance to the dungeon. Her absence could have been totally innocent that morning, but she could have been involved just as easily. I'm making sure the news of the discovery of Sadie's body doesn't reach her until we have spoken with her. Would you like me to have her brought here now?"

"Yes, please."


	7. Street Fighter

Rapunzel couldn't keep her eyes from moving. Struthers Street was a very busy place, she couldn't believe she had never been there before.

It was a long street leading to the northern most section of the city's large harbor. On either side of the smooth cobblestones, worn down by generations of worn down feet, were old, but cared for single, two and a few three story buildings. They were all of the style of building that was popular two or three generations prior. On the street were vendors selling their wares, bread, candy, produce, trinkets and lots and lots of fish fresh from the harbor. Dodging between the vendors and other adults were children playing games only they could follow. There were several mothers calling to their young ones from windows and door steps.

Struthers Street had been a working class neighborhood for its entire existence, populated by hard working people. Most were perfectly law abiding, but seven years prior there had been a large royal guard raid to break up a drug and human trafficking ring. Twenty-five people had been arrested and one young man had been killed after he had attacked a guard and attempted to flee. The following day there was a riot which resulted in the arrest of a dozen more people and damage to several of the buildings along the street and in surrounding neighborhoods. Many of the families in the area had been affected and even though time had passed and overall the neighborhood was better for it, a distrust of local authority remained.

"Where would you like to start princess?" the Captain asked.

Rapunzel looked around.

"I figure these food vendors see a lot," she said. "Let's start with them."

The blonde princess approached an older male who was working a small booth selling fish. He immediately recognized her.

"Why your highness," he said, raising his eyebrows. "What do I owe the pleasure of the company of such a beautiful your woman?"

Rapunzel's cheeks pinked.

"We are looking for someone."

"Really, who?"

"His name is Anthony Johannes, also called Tony," Rapunzel said. "Do you know him?"

The man shook his head.

"No, I've never heard that name before."

"I'm sure as a street vendor you hear and see a lot," Rapunzel said.

"Yah, I suppose I do," he agreed.

"Mr. Johannes had dark brown hair and was missing his right eye," Rapunzel said. "Have you seen anyone like that?"

The vendor thought for a moment, but shook his head.

"Not that I recall."

"How about just someone new in the neighborhood?" Cass asked.

"I see lots of new faces everyday, being as we are so close to the harbor. We get travelers and sailors in and out of here all the time too. Faces always seem to blend together."

"Is there someone that you know of who might be able to help us?" Cass asked. "You know, like a gossip monger, all neighborhoods have one."

The man smiled and nodded.

"Ah yes, you want Salty Sally Martin. She used to be the captain of a fishing boat, but now runs the local tavern."

He motioned to a worn out single story building about twenty feet down the street. Over the scarred wood door was a sign shaped like a fish.

"The Holy Mackerel," Rapunzel read from the sign. "Great name! Let's go!"

"I don't know about this," the Captain said, hurrying after the princess and his daughter. "A bar fight has to be broken up in that tavern at least once a week."

"Well, I have been trying to cut back," came a raspy female voice from behind them. "Used to be we'd have bar fights every single night."

The three humans, chameleon and horse turned from the bar door to find a grinning woman of about fifty staring at them. She had a keg braced on one of her shoulders.

"Sally Martin?" Rapunzel asked.

"The one and only, but call me Salty Sal, princess," she said.

Salty Sally Martin was once quite beautiful, but years of spending time in the sun out on the open seas had taken their toll, but her youthful smile and clear eyes twinkled out from the deep set lines that ringed them.

Sally winked at the captain.

"Could you open the door for me, handsome?"

The captain blushed slightly, but obliged. The three humans followed Sally into the tavern. Max kept watch outside the door. The trio waited at the bar as Salty Sal put the keg away somewhere behind a swinging door.

"So, what can I get you three?" Salty Sal asked, propping herself up on her elbows, leaning over the bar top, giving the captain a good view of her cleavage. "I'm not technically open for another hour, but I like having handsome men in my place."

She winked at the captain and leaned in closer towards him. He took a small step back.

"Actually, we were told that you were the person to come to for neighborhood gossip," Rapunzel said.

"Oh really," Sal said, leaning back somewhat, turning towards the princess. "Well, whoever said that is right. Being as I run the local watering hole, I overhear lots of interesting things."

"And know most of the people living around here?" Rapunzel supplied.

"Yah, I'd say I know basically everyone here. What's all this about?"

"We are trying to find some information on a man who died a couple days ago," the princess told her. "One of his cohorts said that he was staying somewhere on this street just prior to his death."

Salty Sal cocked a suspicious eyebrow at the princess.

"Is he the man who died during the attack on you in the woods?" she asked.

"You know about that?" Rapunzel asked, surprised.

"Everyone knows about that, dear," Sal chuckled. "It was in all the papers. They really have you holed up in that castle don't they?"

"So you know who we are talking about then," the Captain said.

"Not really, they never gave his name or a description of him in the papers."

"His name was Anthony Johannes," Rapunzel said.

Sal furrowed her brows and clenched her teeth as she thought.

"I know plenty of Tonys," she said. "But no one with that last name that I can recall."

"Have you heard of anyone new staying in the area?" Cass asked. "Someone with dark brown hair and missing his right eye?"

Salty Sal perked up at this question.

"Actually, I do remember a man like that," Sal said. "He came in every night for two weeks straight and drank beer. He didn't speak to anyone while he was here, not even me and I didn't learn his name. I remember him because, I thought I recognized him. I could swear that he used to live in the area years ago. A woman came and got him on two occasions. Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since before the attack on you in the woods."

"Who was the woman?" Cass asked.

"A local woman, very sweet," Salty Sal said, shaking her head. "If she's involved in the racket surrounding you, your highness, I feel so sad for her. Her name is Roberta Curry, she is a widow and has a teenage son and two toddler girls. She runs the tea shop two houses down from here."

Salty Sal shook her head sadly.

"Bobbie has always been quite trusting."

"Well, thank you for your help," Rapunzel said, shaking Sal's hand. "You have really helped us out a lot."

"I'm glad I could be of service," Sal said. "I just hope I didn't get Bobbie in trouble."

Salty Sal followed the trio to the door as they left the tavern.

"Come back anytime, princess," Sal said. "I'll give you a beer on the house."

She blew a kiss to the captain.

"I've got a well-aged bottle of premium scotch, captain," she called. "Come by soon and I will split it with you. I make a good steak too, if you get hungry."

The captain's face turned beet red as he hurried away from the tavern.

"Oh come on, dad," Cass said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "She seems fun. You should take her up on her offer."

Like at the tavern, Max waited outside the door as the three humans entered the building housing Roberta Curry's tea shop. A sign over the door to the eatery named the place as "Bobbie's Teapot." There was a faded painting of a teapot on the sign. The shop held ten square, four person tables with accompanying high backed chairs. Currently, three of the tables were in use and a stout, black haired woman was clearing another. At the far side of the room was a long counter with glass display cases beneath it. A variety of pastries, breads, cookies and two cakes were arranged with the cases. On top of the counter were baskets of fruit. Behind the counter were two doors and an open window to the kitchen. The top of someone's head could be seen moving around in the kitchen. The entire shop was spotless.

"I'll be right with you," the woman clearing the table said, not fully looking up from cleaning the table. "Sit anywhere you like."

"Thank you," Rapunzel said. "But, we are actually looking for Roberta Curry. I need to speak with her."

That got the woman's attention. She looked fully into Rapunzel's eyes, her face going pale when she recognized the princess. Her eyes darted from the princess to Cass to the captain.

"I should have expected this," she gulped. "Come with me to the back room."

She hurried behind the counter and put the dirty dishes on the windowsill to the kitchen.

"James, keep an eye out here for customers, I have to take care of something in the back."

The top of the head Rapunzel had seen in the kitchen revealed its face. A boy of about fifteen looked out at Rapunzel and her companions curiously.

"Sure thing, mom. Just don't take too long. I have to put the bread out of the oven soon."

The woman opened one of the two doors and motioned for the three visitors to follow her. She led them into a small office that had a staircase in one corner and another door. The woman sat at a desk and motioned for Rapunzel, Cass and the captain to sit on the small couch next to the desk.

"I am Roberta Curry, more commonly known as Bobbie. You are here about Tony, aren't you?"

Rapunzel was surprised that Bobbie would already know why they were there.

"Salty Sal said she saw a man matching his description with you at her tavern," Rapunzel said.

Bobbie nodded.

"I collected him from there a few times. He was a very heavy drinker, always has been."

"How did you know him?" the captain asked.

"We dated when we were young. He'd been gone for a long time and needed a place to stay."

"So you let him stay," Cass said.

"Yes, but I didn't want to," Bobbie said, looking intently at Rapunzel. "I didn't know what he was planning, I swear. They didn't say it in the article, but I knew that he was the one who attacked you in the woods. And when he didn't come back…"

"Did he mention any plans he had?" the captain asked.

"He said he had a job here in Corona and that he was working with his 'usual crew' whoever they were. I didn't meet them."

"He didn't say what the job was?" Rapunzel asked.

"No, I swear he didn't," Bobbie said, clasping her hands. "If I'd known, I would have reported him. I would've taken what he had threatened to do to me. I never thought he was that bad."

"He threatened you?" Rapunzel asked.

"Yes, to make me let him stay here. I was married when we met and had an affair. My husband Ben died in an accident in the harbor two years ago, but I still didn't want my secret to reach my son. Ben is not the father of James, Tony is. Tony threatened to tell James if I didn't let him stay."

"He didn't mention anything at all about who he was working for?" Cass asked.

"Nothing, but he did leave some of his things in my apartment upstairs, maybe there's a clue there."

"Could we take a look?" Rapunzel asked, rising from the couch.

"Go right ahead, I have to get back to the front," Bobbie said. "He was in the blue bedroom. Please let me know when you are done. I think I'll toss his stuff when you are done. If you find a clue, feel free to take it with you."

The trio had all just risen from the couch when a guard hurried through the door, James holding it open for him.

"Captain, sorry to interrupt, but I need to have a work with you."

The captain turned to the two women.

"You two go on ahead, I'll deal with whatever this is."

Rapunzel and Cassandra climbed the stairs to the apartment about the tea shop. The apartment was cramped, but clean and bright. They easily found the so-called blue bedroom. It was the only room in the apartment that wasn't painted white. The only personal effects in the room were contained inside an old leather haversack. They laid the contents out on the bed.

There were a few items of clothing, money, what looked like lock picking tools, toiletries and just miscellaneous items. The only items of interest were a bunch of rolled up papers. Rapunzel looked through them until she found what she was looking for.

"Cass look at this!" she exclaimed. "Look at this note!"

The note read:

 **Will pay your group 15000 for the capture of Princess Rapunzel.**

 **Required that she be alive and in decent health. No exceptions.**

 **I will keep you updated on her movements.**

 **Current mental status is unstable. I will make her as pliable as possible.**

 **S**

"Who is S?" Cass asked. "Does that mean Serpent? Also, why does this person think your mental status is unstable?"

"Maybe the castle mole is telling them that I've been having nostalgia issues," Rapunzel said.

Rapunzel looked through the rest of the papers. They were all fliers about offered bounties for fugitives, community events and a few scribbled notes that Tony must have made himself that made no sense to Cass and Rapunzel. They decided to take all the papers.

The two women waved farewell to Bobbie as they left the tea shop. Max and the captain were standing outside the shop waiting for them. The captain had a dark look on his face as Cass and Rapunzel joined him.

"What's wrong?" Cass asked him.

"I was just informed that one of the castle staff has been found murdered," the captain said glumly. "She was a cook by the name Sadie Manning."

Cass and Rapunzel gasped.

"She was on our list of people who were seen in the dungeons the day Pascal was found down there," Rapunzel said.

"Based on observations from the castle doctor, she's been dead for days and was most likely dead before your chameleon was drugged and put in that cell," the man continued.

"So how could she have been seen in the dungeons if she were dead?" Rapunzel asked.

"Well, royal guards went to her apartment on the orders of Fitzerbert," the captain told her. "I expect he discovered something. We should head back to the palace now…Max who were the two men you saw?"

The horse gently motioned with his muzzle towards two tall, darkly dressed men standing against a wall across the street from Rapunzel and her group. Their faces were obscured by their wide brimmed hats.

"Max informed me that these two men have been tailing us since we left the palace," the captain said in a low tone. "Rapunzel, you walk up against Max on the opposite side from those men, if needed I will have you get on his back and Max will run you back to the palace, Cass you walk a few feet in front of them. I'll take the rear. Careful now, I don't want to tip these guys off that we are onto them."

The small group got into the captain's ordered formation and tried to make their movements along the street appear normal and natural. Pascal hopped up onto max's back and kept an eye on the two suspicious men. They were indeed following them. Cass nudged Max's nose and motioned to the street ahead of them with a nod. There was another similarly dressed man in front of them, walking towards them. The captain was an experienced soldier and in situations like the one he was currently in, he had trained himself to always pay close attention to all sights, sound and smells around him. This came in handy at that moment as he was attacked from behind.

Drawing out his short dagger, he thrust backwards in one swift movement. There was a strangled grunting sound as the captain felt the dagger bury itself in a semi-soft mass. He pulled the dagger away and turned around as one of the two darkly clad men fell to the ground clutching his stomach. A vicious looking serrated knife fell from his hands, making a plinking noise as it hit the cobblestones.

"Max, get the princess out of here!" the captain shouted as he parried an overhand sword attack from the second of the two men who had been following the group.

Max swung his head around and gripped the back of Rapunzel's dress in his large teeth. He lifted her up quickly and tossed her over his back. He immediately took off back to the castle. The man who had been walking towards them drew a short sword and lunged at Max and Rapunzel, but Cassandra deflected him with a running kick to his stomach. Max hurried on, letting Cass and the captain take care of the two remaining attackers. He had his orders and he was going to follow through with them.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Rapunzel said as she pulled herself up to sit in the saddle.

Max snorted and shook his head. He was taking his princess to the safety of the castle. As the horse galloped past the final alley before Struthers Street met the city's main thoroughfare, a bolas attached to a long rope came flying at Rapunzel. The weapon did its work perfectly, the two weights flew on either side of her torso and wrapped and twisted themselves around her, trapping her arms to her body, the padded weights thumping harmlessly against her back. A tremendous jerk pulled her from Max's back and Rapunzel landed heavily on the stone street below, crying out in pain as she landed on her stomach and smacked her cheek on the ground. Pascal was thrown from her shoulder.

Max neighed as loudly as he could and reared up on his hind legs. He turned towards the alley where the bolas attack originated from, but the attacker was apparently prepared for the large horse. A heavy rope net with bolas on short lengths of rope along the edges hit the horse in the face and enveloped him, the bolas twisting around his back legs. His front legs became entangled in the net and he fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding landing on Rapunzel. Max neighed and cried with rage as he attempted to get loose of the net, but it was no use. He could only watch helplessly as two darkly clad figures drug his young princess away.

* * *

"This is the first time we've been able to fight a real fight together," Cass said to her father as she deflected a punch from her opponent.

"Concentrate on your attacker, child," the captain said, his voice tight as he used his dagger to parry his attacker's much longer sword. "I'm fairly sure this is just a distraction. We need to take these two down now!"

Cass' attacker had foolishly dropped his sword when Cass had initially kicked him in the stomach. She hadn't been able to grab it, but she had kicked it under a vendor's stall where it couldn't be accessed. The man was significantly larger than the young woman, but she was used to that. She had learned to adapt and was often able to use she smaller size to her advantage.

As the man lunged forward and swung at her, she agilely ducked under the man's punch and grabbed the outside of his wrist with her right hand and stepped to be behind him. With her left forearm she grabbed his shoulder and pulled his arm back into a modified straight arm bar. Using the momentum of the man's lunge at her and adding her own to it, Cass rushed the man forward and smashed his head through the side of a wooden crate that had been left on the side of a building. The man grunted and then lay still, knocked out cold.

While Cassandra dealt with her attacker, the captain was matching his blow for blow. The captain couldn't help but appreciate the swordsmanship of his opponent. They had both managed to score minor hits against each other, both of them have several small cuts spread out over their bodies, the worst of which was a slice to the back of the captain's hand that was dripping blood everywhere. Neither were giving the other an inch or a chance to take a single breath. They both knew only one of them was walking away from the fight. The captain was a seasoned soldier, he knew that some battles had to be to the death.

The captain was tiring, but he could see that the other man was as well. This was his only chance to end the fight. He allowed the man to swing without parrying the strike. Instead, the captain jumped as far to the side as he could and swung down at the attacker's nearest foot. He wasn't in range of hitting the man's foot, but the captain's sudden change in attack was enough to surprise the attacker and make him attempt a fumbling defense block of his feet. The captain bounced forward and drove his dagger up, under the man's ribs into his heart. The attacker died almost instantly and fell to the ground.

The captain kneeled down and used his hand to close the man's staring blue eyes.

"Dad, are you alright?" Cass asked, concernedly taking his bleeding hand.

The pair had defeated their opponents only seconds apart.

"Yes, I'm sure I'll need stitches on this, but I'm fine," he said, taking a deep breath, trying to slow heart after his exertion.

"What's going on here?"

The father and daughter turned to see two harbor guards running up to them along with Salty Sal and a another man a short ways behind them. Residents of Struthers Street were emerging from doorways and looking out of windows. They had fled when the fighting had started and Sal and the man had gone for help.

"They were attempting to attack the princess…" the captain began, "Wait, what's that noise?"

The small group could hear the distinct distressed calls of a horse.

"That's Max!" Cass cried. "Something's happened to Rapunzel!"

She took off in the direction Max had gone with Rapunzel. Ahead she could make out a large shape writhing on the ground. The captain and one of the harbor guards followed close behind her. They quickly found that Max was the shape writhing on the ground. A royal guard was there trying to get him untangled. He wasn't having much luck helping the panicked horse. Using his dagger, the captain cut the horse free. Max got to his hooves and neighed shrilly in Cass' and the captain's faces.

"Where's Rapunzel?" Cass yelled.

Max motioned with his head to the alley and neighed.

The captain and Cass jumped onto the horse's back and the horse galloped as fast as he dared into the narrow alley.

"We were only a minute or two behind them," Cass said. "She can't be far away."

The captain cursed loudly as they came to a fork in the alleyway.

"Which way?"

* * *

Melody Rose strode into Eugene's room. She was very pretty, so Eugene could see how she could easily attract the attention of someone like Pete. Her face was completely unreadable, but her stride into his room and up to his bed was a confident one. Stan closed the door behind her. Pete was instructed to go on a break while Eugene spoke to Rose.

"You wished to speak to me, Sir Fitzerbert?" she asked, her face still blank.

"Yes, I wanted to ask you about your recent absence from work," Eugene said. "Your absence the morning two days ago."

Still no change of expression from the woman, but she did nod.

"I understand you asking," she said. "I heard that the princess' pet was found drugged in one of the cells. Me being gone would be slightly suspicious. I was at a mind doctor's appointment. I've been going there for about a year now. She will confirm the appointment if you ask her I am sure."

"What's the name of the doctor?"

"Veda Mal, she is well known in Corona."

Eugene was slightly surprised by this. That was the same mind doctor Rapunzel was seeing.

Well, she is very well known, Eugene thought. It really isn't that surprising that she would have patients who also work at the palace.

"How long was the appointment?" Eugene asked. "And when did it start?

"It went longer than usual, I'll admit. It was at 8:30 and lasted until almost eleven. They usually only last an hour, but I was working through some stuff with Dr. Mal."

"What did you do after the appointment? You didn't clock on until noon."

"I was on my lunch break before I started work."

"That makes sense," Eugene said, writing Rose's information in his notebook. He paused his writing as he thought of something. "Where were you the day before your appointment?"

That got a slight reaction from Rose. Her eyes glinted and an angered look came over her face for the briefest of moments, but then it was gone and she was unreadable once again.

"I was working here."

"When did you work?"

"Eight to four is my normal shift."

"What did you do after you got off work?" Eugene asked.

"Went home."

"Did anyone see you?"

"Not that I know of. I live alone. Anymore questions?"

"Not at this time," Eugene said, closing his notebook. "I will confirm the appointment with Dr. Mal. If I need to talk to you again, I will send for you."

Mel Rose strode out of the room without another word. Stan walked over to Eugene's bed.

"Do you think she killed that cook?" Stan asked.

"It's not out of the realm of possibility. She has no alibi and even if she had an appointment that morning, the time the imposter-Sadie was in the dungeons isn't covered by the appointment, she was on her lunch break at the time."

"So, you think she killed and then impersonated the cook?" Stan said.

"Probably," Eugene said. "Stan could you send someone to confirm Rose's appointment."

"Will do, also I will run it by the captain when he returns to see if we have cause to search Rose's house. Although, we have just tipped our hand to her."

"Have her kept under watch," Eugene suggested. "I'm sure one of the wardens will be willing to help with that."

Stan saluted Eugene and hurried from the room. Eugene leaned back on his pillows and without meaning to, dozed off.


	8. Suelta Lo

Don't panic, don't panic! Rapunzel repeated over and over in her mind as she was dragged quite roughly down the alley, narrowly avoiding hitting piles of debris and bins along the way.

The two darkly clad people hadn't uttered a single word since they had begun their mostly one-sided tug-of-war with the princess. She had been dazed by her impact with the cobblestone street, but she had been able to clear her mind by the time they reached a fork in the alley. First, she tried hooking her feet on a heavy iron bin that was set against one wall, but with the amount of force that the two attackers were pulling her along with, she couldn't keep a hold on the bin. After a few seconds of impeding them, they had been able to pull her loose and continue their journey down the alley. She only managed to skin the tops of her feet and painfully smack the tops of her big toenails on the heavy metal.

Next, Rapunzel tried to work her hands around to where the bolas were twisted around her back, but found it to be a useless endeavor. She craned her head around to see if there was anything passing by that she could use to cut at the ropes, but found her head movement was impeded by the rope securing her thick braid to her back.

My braid! She thought desperately.

Her thick, multilayered, blonde braid was taking up a lot of space between the rope and her back.

If I only could undo my braid, I could slip out of this rope! She thought, twisting her right hand to grab a strand of her silky hair.

One of her hair bindings was right above the portion of hair she was able to grab on to. Knowing she had to work faster than she currently was, she yanked hard on the strong hair band. She pulled so hard her fingers ached, but she was rewarded with the snap of the binding and a slight loosening of her hair. Rapunzel was able to pull up the hair below where the removed binding was and pull out the two bands that were below the one she had removed. She quickly began smoothing out the plaits. As she had hoped, the rope slackened around her and she was able to wriggle free of the ropes. She sprang to her feet and with a flick of her now sore hands, she removed the remaining hair ties from her hair and swung her exceedingly long hair loose. Taking a fighting stance, with locks of hair in both hands, she resolutely faced her two attackers.

"If any of my friends are hurt," she said, darkly. "You will regret it. No one messes with the people I care about."

The pair, which turned out to be a man and a woman, dropped the rope. The woman pulled a pair of twin daggers from her belt. The man pulled out a ball on a chain and began swinging it menacingly in front of his body. Both were wearing masks.

"Mira Sandra, la puta cree que puede vencernos!" the man laughed, speaking to the woman.

The woman laughed wickedly.

"Vamos a ensenarle una leccion!" she said.

Rapunzel had no idea what they were saying, Spanish was not a language she knew, but it mattered little to her. She was taking the pair down. The princess didn't wait for them to say another word, she just attacked with her hair. She sent locks at both of them at the same time. The woman slashed down at Rapunzel's hair in an attempt to defend herself. She cried out a word that Rapunzel judged to be an expletive as her twin blades shattered into a dozen pieces. Rapunzel's hair wrapped tightly around the woman. The princess pulled the woman to the ground. Unable to catch herself, the woman smacked her face hard on the pavement and lay still. Rapunzel couldn't help but grin slightly at that.

What goes around, comes around, she thought.

Alternatively, the man fared much better against the princess' attack, catching her hair in the chain of his weapon. He pulled Rapunzel forward. He was very strong, Rapunzel couldn't stop herself from taking a few steps toward the man as he reeled her in. He switched tactics. Twisting her hair in his hands, the attacker began dragging Rapunzel down the alleyway once again. The larger man was much stronger than her and Rapunzel was unable to pull her hair free from his grasp or stop him from pulling her along to wherever they were heading. First, she tried grabbing onto a wood support beam, but this only succeeded in causing her pain as the man pulled and heaved on her hair. Her scalp ached and burned as the man jerked on it sharply.

"Suelta lo!" the man shouted, hurrying towards the princess.

As he approached, she got any idea. The ball and chain was hopelessly tangled in her hair. It would take some time to remove it. If she could get him to let go of it, it would no longer be of any use to him. Rapunzel swung out a lock of her hair faster than the eye could track. It wrapped around the man's shins tightly. Rapunzel quickly pulled the man to the ground. He let go of his weapon to catch himself as he fell. Rapunzel grabbed ahold of a rusty and dented frying pan sitting at the top of a garbage bin and hit the man over the head with it as he attempted to stand. He was knocked out cold.

There was a slight sound behind her. Rapunzel turned to find the female attacker running at her with a metal pipe. Rapunzel prepared her hair for an attack, but before the woman could reach her, a large shape swung down from a second floor window and crashed into the woman. She was sent flying into the building's wall and slumped against it, lying still. The shape turned to face Rapunzel.

"Lance!" Rapunzel said, shocked.

She rushed over to him and hugged him. The tall, broad-shouldered and goateed Lance Strongbow gave the princess a light hug around the waist and stepped back. A look of puzzlement and concern creased his brows.

"Rapunzel, who are these people?" he asked.

"I don't know, I have an enemy that is sending people to try and capture me. Thanks for helping me."

"It was no problem," he said, grinning. "I enjoyed being able to spring into action. Now, you are alone and there are people trying to capture…"

"She's not alone, we're here!"

Max with Cass, the Captain and Pascal all on his back came barreling down the alley, skidding to a stop in front of Rapunzel and Lance.

Cass and her father jumped from the horse's back. Cass grabbed Rapunzel by the shoulders.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes, with the help of Lance here, I was able to thwart these two attacker's efforts," Rapunzel said, motioning towards Lance as she spoke his name. "They are just knocked out. Please secure them, Captain."

The Captain was already in the process of doing so. Once both man and woman were tied up with their own rope, the captain pulled off their masks. They were both young and similar looking, probably siblings. The woman had blood running from a cut on her right eyebrow streaking down her cheek and dripping from her chin. The Captain ordered the guards that had followed him, Cass and Max down the alley to take the two prisoners to the castle dungeon. At that moment a small coach with a single horse and royal guard as a driver rolled carefully up to the small group and stopped next to Rapunzel. The Captain opened the door.

"Princess, this coach will take you back to the palace," he said, motioning with his injured hand for to step inside. "Cass, you go with her. I will secure this area."

Rapunzel took hold of the man's deeply cut hand.

"You're hurt, Captain," she said, solicitously. "You need to get this treated."

"I'm fine…"

"Father, she's right," Cass said, interrupting him. "I can secure the scene. I know the procedure. You need to take care of your hand."

The Captain looked at the cut. He knew his daughter and the princess were right. This injury, if not properly treated, could affect his grip and lead to the premature end to his illustrious career. He also knew that his daughter was well trained and could handle the current situation. He gave a nod and after Rapunzel stepped into the covered carriage, he stepped aboard, ordering Maximus to stay with Cass.

"Lance, come with us," Rapunzel said, extending her hand to help him aboard.

The former thief accepted her hand and climbed inside the cabin, now cramped with his large frame inside. He closed the door and the coach began to move. Lance sat on the seat across from Rapunzel and the Captain. Rapunzel was wrapping one of her handkerchiefs around the wound on the Captain's hand.

"So, princess, what the hell is going on?" Lance asked.

"I'd think you'd know," the Captain said, huffily. "It's been in all the papers."

"I just got back to Corona early this morning," Lance said. "I was scouting for some new food vendors for the Snuggly Ducking in the neighboring country for the past two weeks."

Rapunzel gasped.

"So…so you don't know about Eugene?"

"Eugene?" Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. "I was wondering where he was just now. I know he wouldn't let anyone just attack you, Rapunzel…ever."

"We-Cass, Eugene and I-were attacked by three bandits two days ago," Rapunzel said, quickly. "Eugene was hurt, bad…he saved me from the bandits…but they hurt him…"

Rapunzel felt her eyes well up with tears and world begin to spin. She took a deep breath and focused on the Captain's hand which he had placed on her shoulder.

Lance was completely taken aback by this.

"What! Is Eugene going to be alright! Rapunzel, were you hurt? You're hurt right now!"

Rapunzel gently touched her bruised and swollen cheek and her bruised hip. She looked down at her scrapped feet. All her injuries were minor.

"I'll be healed in a couple days, just some scrapes and bruises. But, not Eugene…he was hurt quite badly…"

Rapunzel scrubbed at the tears that were building up in her eyes. Lance put a large hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's OK. Just breathe."

She took several slow and deep breaths as the Captain spoke for her.

"Mr. Fitzerbert was thrown from a speeding coach after saving the princess from the bandits and a wheel went over his leg. He will recover, but it will take some time. He is currently confined to his bed in the castle."

Lance's face paled and he squeezed Rapunzel's shoulder gently.

"That's horrible, but I'm glad that he will recover. Can I see him?"

The princess nodded.

"He'd like that I'm sure."

* * *

"You are not leaving the palace again!"

Eugene jolted awake to the sound of a very upset King Frederic. Looking in the direction of the door, he saw Rapunzel sitting on his bed, her back was to him. Pete and Stan stood on either side of his door as usual. King Frederic was standing about halfway between the door and Eugene's bed. His face was flushed.

"Also, I can't believe that you wouldn't come to me immediately after your return from the city," the king continued to storm. "You were almost taken by our enemies. Instead of hearing this from you, I learned this from a palace guard!"

"Dad, I'm fine, Lance was there to help me and…"

"And what if he wasn't? You'd be in the hands of the Serpent, whoever that is!"

"Sorry to interrupt, sire," came a deep voice to Eugene's right.

He knew that voice and didn't need to look to see who it was, but he did any way. Lance Strongbow was standing on the right side of his bed with his arms lightly crossed. Lance continued speaking.

"Princess Rapunzel was doing just fine when I got there. I just wanted to help her out and get in on the action."

"I can take care of myself dad. Keeping me locked up in the castle isn't going to help! They were able to get in the other night, even with the enhanced security!"

King Frederic scowled at his daughter and opened his mouth to speak, but Rapunzel cut him off.

"You know I'm right," she said. "I'm in danger no matter where I am at and it will only get better once the Serpent is captured. I can help, I can speed up her capture."

The King opened his mouth to speak again, but this time Eugene interrupted him.

"Rapunzel, I agree with your father on this."

The blonde woman whirled around to face Eugene. Eugene felt his blood run cold in his veins when he saw her face. Her cheek was swollen and darkly bruised. In her hand he noticed a cool compress.

"Blondie," he gasped, his mind clouding with rage. "They hurt you? Where are they? Are they dead?"

"They are in the dungeon, they are alive," Rapunzel answered him. "It's just a bruise, Eugene. It'll heal in a few days, so will my feet. They barely hurt at all."

"Your feet?"

"Oh, right you wouldn't know about what happened."

Rapunzel showed Eugene the tops of her feet. They had been treated with antiseptic cream and bandages were taped over the scrapes. The princess quickly explained what had happened after they spoke to their witnesses on Struthers Street. She was about to tell him about what they had learned, when her father interrupted her.

"Rapunzel, you don't seem to be grasping the seriousness of this situation. You, Cass, Max and my Captain of the Guard were attacked. It took ten stitches to sew up the Captain's hand. Cass could have been killed. Maximilian could have been killed. The Captain could have been killed. You could have been killed. And all that for what? So you could avenge the deaths of palace staff? That's not your responsibility, Rapunzel. They work in the palace, they know the risks that can come with working with world leaders. Bringing their killers to justice is the responsibility of the royal guards. Your responsibilities lie in learning to lead a country, and to survive long enough to do so!"

The King's voice had been rising in volume as he spoke and he began to shake his finger in the air.

"I've said this what seems like a thousand times to you already! You will not leave the confines of the palace! Not for any reason! Do you understand?"

Rapunzel had stood up from the bed. She stood with her arms at her sides, her hands were balled up and shaking. Eugene couldn't see her face, but he could imagine the look of anger she had plastered on it.

"But, dad…"

"There are no buts! The only thing that I want to hear out of your mouth is your acknowledgement of your understanding and your agreement to follow my word."

"No, I won't!"

King Frederic looked like his head was about to pop off and shoot around the room like a cork. Eugene leaned forward and clasped Rapunzel's nearest fist. He ignored his complaining ribs as he stretched out to reach her.

"Rapunzel," he said, softly. "Please do as your father says. I know it seems harsh, but he's just worried about you. We all are. I agree with him. You need to stay in the palace. It may not be completely safe, but it's far safer than out on the streets. Please Rapunzel, calm down."

Rapunzel looked back at Eugene. Tears were brimming in her eyes. She held her lover's gaze for a moment before finally turning back to face her father.

"Fine, I agree to stay in the palace."

Her shoulders slumped as she spoke. King Frederic calmed somewhat, but it was apparent that he didn't fully trust Rapunzel.

"I'm glad you are being more cooperative. Cass and Stan will be watching you twenty-four seven. If you try anything, I'll lock you in your room."

With that, the King left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Rapunzel sat down on the side of Eugene's bed and cradled her face in her hands. Eugene gently rubbed her back.

"Hey, Rapunzel, it'll be OK. You know that right?"

"Do you think he'd really lock me in my room?" her voice slightly muffled by her hands.

"I think he'd do anything he had to, to keep you safe," Eugene said, grunting as he leaned back against the pillows. "He cares deeply about you. He suffered for the eighteen years you were missing. He just doesn't want to lose you again, this time it could be permanently…you know, if you are killed by these people."

Rapunzel didn't respond. She just looked at the floor. Eugene changed the subject.

"So, what did you find out at Struthers Street?"

Rapunzel told him about speaking to Salty Sally Martin and how she pointed her towards Bobbie Curry. Then she told him about what she learned from Bobbie.

"We found some papers in his things, I gave them to Cass," Rapunzel said. "Where is she?"

"She went to take the Captain home," Stan told her. "He's on medical leave due to his hand."

"How long was I asleep?" Eugene asked.

"Over two hours total," Stan said. "Rapunzel got here about an hour and half ago."

"I messed up big time by not immediately telling my parents about what happened, didn't I?" she asked Eugene, but Stan responded.

"If you are asking me, I say, yes you did," he said, gruffly. "It was very irresponsible for you to delay telling them. Plus, you put two members of the palace staff in harm's way. I didn't think you going out to Struthers Street was a good idea to begin with. I apologize if I am overstepping my boundaries by saying this, but I like you very much, princess and I wouldn't want to see anything happen to you."

Rapunzel smiled at him.

"Thank you, Stan. It's OK, I know I should have told them what happened. I just didn't want to be yelled at and again confined to the palace, which happened anyway."

Eugene turned to Lance.

"Man, I can't thank you enough for helping Rapunzel," he said. "I'm in your debt, as always."

"It was nothing," Lance grinned. "The princess can handle herself, but I've been so bored. I just wanted a piece of the action. I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"Still, I can't fully express my gratitude," Eugene said.

"Just get better quick," Lance said, stepping to the door. "I'm eager to start up more training for the guards soon and I really don't like seeing you like this, really I don't. I'll be at the Snuggly Duckling if you all need anything."

With that, Lance bowed to Rapunzel and took his leave. Rapunzel turned back to Eugene and took his hand.

"I'm sorry if I am worrying you," she said.

"I always worry about you," he told her. "I love you."

Rapunzel beamed at him and squeezed his hand.

"So tell me what you have found out? I heard that a cook was found murdered and the guard who found her was sent to her home on your orders."

Eugene told her how they ended up finding Sadie Manning murdered in her home and how they were convinced that the woman identified as the Sadie Manning in the dungeon the day Pascal was found in a cell was in fact an imposter. He then told the princess about his conversation with Melody Rose.

"She's a patient of Dr. Mal?" Rapunzel asked, surprised.

"You sound surprised," Eugene said. "Dr. Mal has lots of patients, it could just be a coincidence."

"Also," Stan piped up, "I was able to confirm with her office that Rose is a patient of theirs and did in fact have an appointment at 8 a.m. that morning. She said her records indicated that she checked in and stayed nearly two hours."

"So, it really could be a coincidence," Eugene mused.

"I still don't understand why they took Pascal in the first place," Rapunzel said. "What harm could he ever do?"

"Maybe he knows something," Eugene said. "Something about the mole or maybe he overheard something about the attack in the woods before it happened."

"Then why didn't he warn me?" Rapunzel asked. "If he knew something was going to happen, he would have told me."

"Maybe they only thought he knew something," Eugene said. "Or maybe I'm wrong, there is a different reason he was drugged and put in the dungeon."

At this moment, Cass entered the room, pushing the door closed behind her. She moved to stand next to Rapunzel.

"How's your father?" Rapunzel asked.

"He's fine. I took him to his apartment and instructed him to rest. I doubt he will though. He was really annoyed to be put on medical leave for three days. Could be longer if the doc doesn't clear him. I'm assuming Raps told you about what happened today, what did you find out?"

Eugene quickly filled Cass in on what he had learned.

"Any news on Mel Rose's movements so far?" Cass asked. "Who do you have watching her?"

"Cpl. Glosser," Stan responded. "He felt it best to not assign it to the rank and file. She has lots of friends and admirers in the ranks and he's her immediate supervisor. He felt it more appropriate to do it himself."

"My next step is to head out to the hideout Bjorn and his gang have in the mountains," Rapunzel said.

"What?" Eugene shouted. "After all that you have been through and after what your father said, what I've said, you still plan on leaving the castle to look for these people?"

Rapunzel frowned at Eugene.

"Of course I do. My father can't just lock me up."

"He's the king," Eugene said. "He can do whatever he wants. Rapunzel, I won't let you leave the castle, it's not safe! I will alert the guards if you try to leave."

"Eugene, I can't believe you!" Rapunzel said loudly. "You know I can defend myself. I've done just fine each time I've been attacked."

"You've been lucky," Eugene said. "I'm not trying to say that you can't defend yourself, no one is saying that, but you can't just recklessly waltz around the city and countryside with violent enemies on the loose. Drop the investigation, Rapunzel. The guards, your father and I are fully capable of handling it. It's not safe for you to be involved. You need to let this go."

Rapunzel stepped back from the bed and glared at Eugene.

"You just don't understand. None of you understand!"

With that Rapunzel charged out of the room. Stan and Cassandra followed her to her room. She slammed the door in their faces and locked the door. Cassandra ordered Stan and another guard to stand at the door. She instructed three more to stand outside her windows. She needed a word with Eugene. She figured that he should be updated on the papers they had found in Johannes' room at Bobbie's Teapot.

"She locked herself in her room," Cass said as she stepped into Eugene's room. "I posted guards at the door and at the windows. I wanted to give these to you. I haven't had much chance to look through them."

The young lady-in-waiting pulled out Johannes' papers and began spreading them over Eugene's bed. There were eight sheets of paper total. Two sheets were lists of items with monetary amounts written next to them. One was handwritten directions of an unknown building referred to as the 'country manor.' The fourth appeared to be a contract for a thieving job. The fifth was a wanted poster for Flynn Rider. The sixth had 'Cassandra, Bodyguard' handwritten at the top, with her physical description written out beneath. It went on to describe her typical weapons and fighting style. The note described her as 'fairly dangerous' and 'fiercely loyal.' At the bottom was written that she would need to be subdued immediately in a fight.

The wanted poster and note about Cassandra were pretty interesting, but the last two notes were by far the most interesting of the pile. The first of the two Cassandra handed to Eugene to read was the note she and Rapunzel had read in Johannes' room.

 **Will pay your group 15000 for the capture of Princess Rapunzel.**

 **Required that she be alive and in decent health. No exceptions.**

 **I will keep you updated on her movements.**

 **Current mental status is unstable. I will make her as pliable as possible.**

 **S**

"S?" Eugene asked. "That's for the 'Serpent' I'm assuming."

"That's what Raps and I thought."

"I'm alarmed at the line about making her pliable and that her mental status is unstable. Who would know that?"

"Don't know."

"Mel Rose is going to the same mind doc Rapunzel is, Dr. Mal," Eugene said. "She'd know about her mental status. She could possibly make Rapunzel more mentally pliable."

"But, she's the queen's mind doctor, too," Cass said. "The queen would never put her daughter in the hands of a dangerous person, not ever."

"You're right I'm sure. Let me see the last paper."

Cass read it before handing it to him. She gasped.

"What is it?" Eugene asked.

Cass lowered the paper so he could see it too. The note read:

 **All is ready in the dungeon. The bait is placed.**

 **Target is very attached to bait.**

 **In last cell in south wing. Leave exit to me.**

 **AJ meet me by S gate at 8. JS meet me at kit. exit at 9.**

 **Wear disguise as instructed.**

 **DO NOT MESS THIS UP**

"That's the cell they found Pascal in!" Cass said. "He was bait! We must have foiled their original plan and they had to ambush us in the woods."

"The writing on the note from 'S' and the note about the trap are very different," Eugene commented. "Even I can tell them apart."

"The note about setting a trap must be from the mole," Cass said, putting the note on Eugene's bed tray. "We need to search the dungeon where he was found."

"So, who are AJ and JS?" Eugene asked.

"I think it's Anthony Johannes and Jen Sax," Cass said. "Sax was posing as Sadie. She probably went in as the cook too late to back out once they found out we were in the woods. With lunch going on, the wardens would be too busy to notice Rapunzel being taken and the fake Sadie slipping away."

"Rose has to be the mole," Eugene said. "She knows the dungeons and the warden schedule well. Johannes was an idiot to keep these notes."

"Is Rose in the dungeon now?" Cass asked.

As she finished her sentence there was a knock at the door. Pete looked out into the hallway and then admitted Cpl. Glosser.

"Sir Fitzerbert, I came to tell you that Officer Rose went home sick for the day. I assigned a palace guard to tail her, but I was unable to leave the castle. I just came to inform you, I need to get back to my post."

"Thank you Corporal," Cass said. "Who did you send? I will take over for him or her."

"Officer Sullivan," Glosser said. "They left only a minute or two ago. They left via the main gate. He's a ginger, has freckles and a short mustache."

"I'll hurry then."

Cassandra ran from the room. Cpl. Glosser took his leave immediately after her.

"I hope she can catch up to Rose," Eugene said, then he turned to Pete. "Could you help me into my chair? I'm going to try and talk to Rapunzel."

* * *

Spanish Translations:

Mira Sandra, la puta cree que puede vencernos!: Look Sandra, the whore thinks that she can fight us!

Vamos a ensenarle una leccion!: Let's teach her a lesson!

Suelta lo!: Let go!


	9. Reverie

Veda Mal sat perfectly still in her favorite armchair. Her eyes were closed. Her hands folded in her lap. A fire crackled in the large marble fireplace near her feet. On the small, round side table beside her sat a steaming cup of tea in a saucer. To an onlooker, she would appear to be asleep, but in truth she was far from it. When her mind was troubled, she would often meditate. A technique she had picked up on her travels to calm her mind and organize her thoughts, as she was trying to do at that moment. But, meditation was not coming to her easily that afternoon.

Lately, her thoughts had been filled with her goal of capturing Rapunzel and of her past. The images and thoughts swirled around one another until she had a hard time separating them. Rapunzel was closely linked to her past, although through no fault of her own. Veda knew this, but she had done too much and come too far to stop now. She knew the moment she hired the first team of kidnappers, there was no turning back. They had failed and the most recent group had failed. She had gained a grudging respect for the strength and resourcefulness of the princess.

Veda sighed in frustration. She unfolded her hands and set them on either armrest, absentmindedly picking at a loose thread she found on the right arm.

Nana Agnes loved this green leaf upholstery, she thought, trying to push her current problems out of her mind. It is so worn, but I could never change it.

The chair had been given to her by her maternal grandmother, as was the thick, ancient, leather-bound book she had propped up on an easel, next to the workstation that housed her alchemy equipment. Those two items and her memories were all that were left of the one person Veda had ever loved, or made her feel loved. Veda opened her eyes and stared into the fire, remembering a conversation she had with her beloved grandmother nearly fifty years earlier while her grandmother sat in this very chair. It was a conversation that had altered the course of her life.

As far back as she could remember, Veda had noticed a single odd behavior in all the women in her family, which was entirely made of women, no male infants survived more than a few days after birth, and men who married in all died within five years, as she came to learn. Her own father was long out of the picture, if he'd ever been more than a one night stand on her mother's part. The fact that she had her mother's maiden name denoted that her parents were never married. Veda had no siblings and only a single surviving female cousin.

Her mother and her mother's sister had always refused to talk about her family's odd behavior and long line of dead males. Finally, just after her tenth birthday, she broached the subject with her grandmother. Veda hadn't intended to ask when she did, but it was something that was always on her mind. She crossed the narrow lane to her grandmother's house from her own, intending to ask for some eggs from her chicken coop. She found her favorite family member as she often found her, sitting in her green armchair, covered in shawls and blankets and hunched over a fire.

"Nana Agnes, it's the middle of summer. Why are you huddled over a fire?" she asked, the question just springing to her lips.

"You shall find out on your own in a few years," her grandmother had told her, clutching her wool shawl around her shoulders.

"I've asked mama and Aunt Hilda, but neither of them will answer me. Auntie has never explained it to cousin Hortense either. Both mama and auntie bundle themselves up just like you and are always cold when I touch them."

Her grandmother motioned for Veda to sit next to her.

"You will feel the cold enter you when you become a woman. It will never leave you and will only get worse with age."

Veda remembered falling silent for a while, trying to understand her grandmother's vague words. She hadn't realized that her grandmother had been watching her with a look of amusement on her face.

"You have always been a bright and inquisitive child," she said. "You may be just what this family needs."

Veda looked quizzically at her grandmother.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Our family is cursed," her grandmother said. "It was cursed long ago by the actions of one of our own."

"How come mama didn't tell me that?"

"She doesn't believe," her grandmother said. "She and her sister refused to take up our family's art, our calling."

"Our calling?"

Her grandmother had pulled out a thick, leather-bound book, the one that rested on the easel in Veda's own home now. She had seen it many times, sitting with her grandmother's alchemy equipment and ingredients. Veda's mother had forbade her from ever touching the book. Her Nana Agnes opened the book to the first page and handed it to the ten-year-old Veda.

The brittle page was covered in faded, thin handwriting. The very bright Veda noted that the words were from an old version of their language. She turned the next several pages carefully to look. The handwriting on these pages had matched the writing on the first page. It was all in the old tongue.

"How old is this book?" she had asked.

"Hundreds of years, I don't know exactly. It has been handed down for generations in our family, from mothers to daughters, except for the first owner of this book. She passed it to no one, it was taken from her by her son. Read the first page."

Veda did as she was asked, turning back to the first page.

 **My name is Wolfgang, I write this as a warning to those who come after me.**

 **My mother abandoned us, consumed with grief at the knowledge her life would soon end.**

 **A woman of wealth, beauty and intelligence throughout her life she thinks of nothing but of herself.**

 **Everyone, even her own son exists to serve her, fulfill her dreams.**

 **She is vain, cruel, manipulative, and as we all discovered, evil.**

 **In her grief, she ran from the manor into the wilds.**

 **There she found a great power.**

 **A gift from God she called it, a golden flower.**

 **But, for our family, it is a gift from Satan.**

 **My mother used the flower's power to regain her youth.**

 **In doing so, it cursed our family.**

 **A great cold has afflicted all the women in the family.**

 **Both of my sons have died, just leaving my twin daughters.**

 **My brothers are all dead, I the youngest, lay on my dead bed.**

 **First, I leave it to my daughters, break this curse, destroy your grandmother.**

 **Use her spell book to find a cure.**

 **If you cannot find a way, pass this book on until one comes along who can.**

Veda closed the book and sat, staring at it for a few moments.

"So this woman cursed us?"

"Not intentionally, I don't believe," her grandmother said. "Your mother refuses to believe the truth, that we are cursed."

"She feels the cold though, I know she does."

"She abandoned our craft, so has your aunt. It is up to you to continue my work."

"This is a spell book?"

"Yes, we are of a line of witches. How far back it runs, I don't know. You must find a cure. I know you can. You must find the flower and destroy it. Dear Mother will be destroyed as well."

"She can't still be alive, can she?" Veda asked. "She'd be hundreds of years old, right?"

"Through the power of the flower, she is immortal."

"And this is her spell book?"

"Yes, it has been added onto over the years as well. I don't have much time left, dear Veda. I give this book to you."

"No, Nana Agnes, we can work on breaking the curse together."

* * *

Veda looked away from the fire and closed her eyes. She never had the time to work with her grandmother on the curse, she had died only two months later. Veda had moved the chair into her tiny bedroom and delved into the spell book, memorizing every word within it. She had to hide the book inside the armchair. If her mother had found it, she would have burned it.

The woman felt a red hot anger flare up in her chest, the only heat she ever truly felt, at the thought of her mother. Her hatred for her mother had grown within her over the years and intensified tenfold once she reached the age of fifteen. That was when the cold set in, slowly at first, but by the time she was twenty, it and bled through her entire body. The warm rays of the sun could never reach her again.

To think that woman kept my birthright from me! Veda thought. I am a witch, descended from witches. She tried to take that from me, left me to a life of suffering from the cold.

Veda glared into the fire as she remembered the last time she saw her mother. She was twenty and in the middle of her first year of mind doctor school. While witchcraft had become her passion during the previous ten years, she realized that she couldn't just be a witch. The intricacies of the mind had always intrigued her, so she chose to also study mind doctoring. Her natural intelligence gained her easy entrance into the university. Her seemingly natural ability as a con artist provided money to pay her tuition.

She was mostly involved in the black market at the time, finding buyers for stolen goods and taking a percentage of the profits. She also had her hands in human and drug smuggling, but she wasn't as involved back then as she was in the present. Now, she headed a large smuggling operation that spanned the continent, not that many people knew she was the head of it.

Her mother had come to see, why she could not understand. Veda had stopped speaking to her when she was seventeen, when she had left home and the woman hadn't reached out her for three years. Her mother had shown up at her boarding house. Veda lived in the largest, most luxurious of the rooms. She could easily afford it with the money she made. Her mother, old and grayed, stood before her, in the center of the room. Veda was sitting in her grandmother's armchair. She had glared at her daughter.

"Your grandmother would be heartbroken at what you've become," she said, flatly.

Veda burned with anger.

"You dare mention her? You are the disappointment. You abandoned our family's craft!"

"Well, that's better than what you've done with it. Using your spells to bolster your luck and get yourself more money while others suffer? You grandmother tasked you with breaking the curse of our family!"

* * *

Veda frowned and then took a sip of her tea. Her mother was right, she knew. Her grandmother had tasked her with using the spell book for good and finding a way to break the curse and save their family. In the beginning, she had fully intended to, but in the decade between the death of her grandmother and her acceptance into the university she had suffered greatly. Poverty was not a pretty or forgiving thing.

I had to survive, I had no choice, she thought, remembering the three months she, her mother, aunt and cousin lived in a shack made of sticks and burlap sacks, freezing, starving and covered in mud.

She'd used the spells and potions in the book to help her family and find a place to live, she had poisoned the actual inhabitants. Her first kill had been hard and it had haunted her for a long time. But as the years went on, it became easier and easier and she found that she had a distinct talent for it.

She remembered the day a gang of ignorant and rash villagers who had dragged off her Aunt Hilda. They believed she was a witch. They burned her at the stake. Sometimes, Veda could still hear the screams of her innocent aunt as she burned to death in her dreams. Veda knew that the woman had been blamed for her own actions, but she certainly wasn't going to fess up to practicing witchcraft. It was alright though, Veda got her revenge on the village. Many of their children were taken and sold into slavery a few years later. They were the beginning of Veda's human smuggling operation. She felt no remorse for doing that.

But always will I regret not fulfilling my grandmother's wish for her, she thought. That is my only regret. I don't regret my other decisions. I had to survive and now that little bitch is standing in my way! I have to obtain the power of the golden flower!

Veda had been twenty-five when she graduated from university and began setting up her mind doctor practice in downtown Corona and took up the title of The Serpent. It was also a front for her flourishing smuggling operation, which would continue to flourish until the raid on Struthers Street nearly twenty years later. She'd had to move her network to Arendelle for a few years after the raid.

As she thought back to her twenty-five and twenty-year-old selves, she remembered the one event that gave her the impetus to try to find the golden flower and take it for herself, and when she learned the truth about her family's curse. She met Dear Mother herself.

Dear Mother was how her son and granddaughters referred to her in their writings in the spell book. The vast majority of the spell book had been written by Dear Mother, but her son, granddaughters and several others of their lineage added their own sections when they made a discovery. Veda herself added the most recent section only a year earlier about wheat she had learned in Arendelle about the heir to the throne and strange goblin-like rock creatures that lived in the woods.

She was eighteen, almost nineteen, when she met Dear Mother, she recalled. She knew exactly who she was the moment she walked by her on the street in Corona, even with a hood pulled low over her eyes. It was a vibe, a familial feeling she received from this woman. It had been nearly forty years, but she remembered every word uttered, every sight and sound around her.

It was if time stood still as I said those two words, she thought.

"Dear Mother."

The hooded woman stopped dead in her tracks, nearly dropping the basket of food she was carrying. She had turned to face Veda. Without warning, the woman had sprung forward and dragged Veda into the nearest alleyway. She had pulled her partway down the narrow alley, where they wouldn't be seen or disturbed. The woman shoved Veda up against the wall, both hands clasped around her shoulders. The hood had fallen back from her head, revealing her luxurious, curly, raven hair and the youthful beauty of her face. The woman' eyes were as gray as a cold winter sky and had glinted evilly at her. Veda remembered the chill that ran down her spine when she looked into those gray eyes.

Veda had noted the dress the woman was wearing. When she had pushed Veda up against the wall, her cloak had fallen open to reveal her outfit. She wore a rather lovely, but very old-fashioned style of dress. Veda had especially admired the beautiful deep crimson color of the dress.

"You are who I thought you were," Veda had said. She remembered that she felt far less confident than she had sounded.

"I haven't been called that for many years," the woman said. "How do you know I was called that?"

"I am your descendent. I have your spell book."

The woman had not been surprised by this answer, but she did let go of Veda's shoulders.

"You look like my mother," the woman said. "And everyone always said I looked like her."

"I sensed our familial bonds," Veda said. "You and I practice the same craft."

"To a degree."

"Your son Wolfgang wrote about you in your spell book. He never said what your name is, just called you Dear Mother."

"I insisted that all my children call me that back then. Mother knows best after all. My name is actually Madame Gothel."

"I'm glad I met you."

"Oh, why's that?"

"You can help me break the curse that has afflicted our family ever since you took the power of the golden flower," Veda said.

Gothel had looked at her quizzically.

"The flower…I don't know what you are talking about, child."

"Don't play dumb, your son Wolfgang wrote about it in the spell book. He said that it cursed the family when you used it to prolong your life."

Gothel burst out laughing. She laughed so hard, she doubled over as tears began dripping down her face. After a few very aggravating minutes for Veda, she managed to compose herself.

"The flower never cursed anyone, that's not how it works, child! No, I cursed my family."

Veda couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You cursed your family? Why would you do that?"

"They rejected me, ME! They were all against me, but mother knows best! I was the head of the family, the matriarch!"

As Gothel spoke, Veda watched in wonder at the woman's theatrics. The woman spoke with great emphasis on her words and grand hand gestures, as if she were on stage. As if the entire world was only there to be her audience.

"They all ganged up against me the night I found the flower, said I was too old and needed to step back," Gothel had continued. "I left them to their scheming and went off into the woods. There, on a cliff by the ocean, I saw a drop of light fall from the sky and when it hit the ground, it bloomed into the most beautiful flower I'd ever seen. I used it to become young again. Then I returned to my manor and my treacherous family. They rejected me still! Accused me of being selfish, vain, manipulative and evil. Humph, I thought nothing but for my children and grandchildren, for mother knows best! They threw me out, even after I told them of the flower and its power, and the power we could have had. So, I paid them back. I cursed them to be cold and lonely for all time and kept the flower for myself."

"Then you can remove the curse! I have done nothing to you. I feel the icy cold of winter in the heat of summer! Please, remove the curse!"

"I have no way of doing so," Gothel told her. "The curse was worded as for all time. So, I imagine the curse will exist in your…my family until there are none of you left. Well, except for me of course."

"The flower then, let me use the flower as you do. I am a member of your family, the flower is also mine by birthright."

A crazy look came into Gothel's eyes. She grabbed Veda around the throat and began squeezing.

"Never, you will never see the flower! It is mine and mine alone!"

Veda had managed to knee Gothel in the stomach and escape the woman's strong grasp.

"I find it then on my own. I can find out where our family used to have a manor. It can't be that hard to find."

"Don't you dare touch my flower! I'd topple a kingdom to protect it! I'd also kill you!"

* * *

Veda didn't remember much after that. She had woken up two days later in a doctor's office recovering from a stab wound to the stomach. She had nearly died, the doctor had told her. Gothel was long gone. Veda was true to her word, she had tried to find her family's ancient manor, but its location was long lost to time. She had spent years upon years looking for the flower, only knowing that it was on a cliff along the sea. She was determined to take the flower for herself. She would remove the curse and then be the one to live forever, just like Gothel.

Then eighteen years ago, it was found and given to the Queen of Corona. The power was passed to the princess who was subsequently kidnapped by none other than Gothel. Veda had to look elsewhere for a cure to her curse, which had eventually lead her to travel to Arendelle on the words of a rumor about the cold afflicted royal heir. She would eventually live there due to the raid on her smuggling operation.

And then the princess escaped, killed Gothel, Veda thought. She lost her hair, but then regained it. I have to obtain the power! It is mine by birthright!

The woman added another log to the fire as she pondered her current reverent mood. She hadn't thought of her past very much for a few years. Thinking of the past had only reminded her that her access to the gold flower had been stolen from her. It also reminded her of her broken promise to her grandmother and that her grandmother would most likely be disappointed in her choice of lifestyle. Looking at her empty tea cup, she was deciding if she wanted to start another pot when there was a knock on the door.

Sighing in annoyance, she rose and walked leisurely to the large main door, opening it.

"What are you doing here?"

* * *

"Rapunzel, please let me in. It's me, you know, Eugene."

The dark haired young man had spent the past ten minutes knocking on Rapunzel's bedroom door. She hadn't even made a single sound in response. He was sitting in his wheelchair nearly against the wood of the door.

"Come on, Rapunzel," Eugene said. "This is getting old and it's not going to get you anywhere."

Still no sound came from within. Eugene sighed in annoyance.

I love her, but she can be so aggravating, he thought.

He decided to change tactics.

"Blondie, I would have thought you'd be upset about me being out of bed. You know I've been out of bed this whole time I've been outside your door. Oh and I've also been out of bed all day while you were gone. I went to the dungeon and the kitchen to talk to the people on the list you gave me. I about passed out from the exertion…"

Eugene's final statement got a reaction from within the room. The door flew open and a very irate princess stuck her head out, her hair billowing around her. Eugene felt a slight chill run down at the look on her face.

"Hah, I was just kidding about that, just kidding," Eugene said quickly. "I was just trying to get a reaction out of you."

Rapunzel frowned at him. It was obvious that she had been crying.

"Can I please come in, Rapunzel," Eugene pleaded. "I'm worried about you."

"Fine."

Rapunzel turned from the door and walked into her room. Pete wheeled Eugene over to the window seat where Rapunzel had settled.

"Could you give us the room please, Pete?"

The young guard nodded and took his post outside the bedroom door. Eugene turned to look at Rapunzel. He could see that she was trembling. He reached out to her, leaving it up to her to take his hand or not. She looked at his offered hand, but turned away. Eugene put his hand in his lap.

"Are you alright, Rapunzel? If you're upset about what just happened…"

"Of course it is, what are you stupid?"

Eugene was struck dumb by this totally out of character statement.

"Rapunzel, what's going on? I've never heard you talk like that."

"I don't want to talk. I feel like I am choking."

"Like you are choking?"

Rapunzel nodded. It looked like her shaking was getting worse. In a raspy voice she continued to speak.

"This place is choking me, I feel like the world is spinning around me and I can't breathe. I can't escape this place. I'm trapped in this place. I feel like I am back in the tower again and I can't get out. My heart is racing in my ears. I heard you at the door, but couldn't move, not until you said something that got me angry at you."

Rapunzel clutched her head in both hands. Eugene hopped out of the chair and onto the window seat to join the princess.

"You've just got yourself all wound up," Eugene said, taking her hands from her head, lowering them to her lap and gently holding them in his. "You need to breathe, Rapunzel."

He hesitated before he continued speaking. He had not wanted to mention the woman's name in any form.

"Did Dr. Mal suggest any techniques to help when this happens?"

"Yes, she gave me instructions for breathing techniques and focusing on other things."

"Do the breathing techniques she suggested. They should help."

Rapunzel nodded and they were silent for several minutes as Rapunzel got herself more under control. Eugene could tell that she wasn't quite over her panic episode.

"It-it wasn't just being forbidden to leave the castle that upset me," Rapunzel hiccupped. "I remembered something from earlier, something you said."

"What did I say?" Eugene asked, concerned.

"I don't remember exactly, but it was about you dying, but living a long time first before you die. I was just thinking, what if my hair keeps me young like it did for Mother Gothel? What if I have to watch all my family and friends die. Any children I have die. I'll be alone again, like I was in the tower. I don't want to have to watch you die and never age myself."

Eugene sighed.

"Rapunzel, you did age from the time you were born until now. I don't think your hair ever had any antiaging effect on you."

"Maybe you're right."

"It's not something I can explain away either way," Eugene said. "We just don't know enough about your hair and how it works. I'm sorry Rapunzel."

"It's not your fault, Eugene. Thanks for coming for me. I am feeling much better now."

"I'm glad I can be here for you. Please lay down in your bed, Rapunzel, and try to get some sleep."

"Will you stay here until I fall asleep?"

"I sure will."

"Good afternoon, Pete, Stan, I thought you were with Eugene."

"Good afternoon to you too, milady," Stan said. "We were, but a few things were shuffled around. Anyway, both the princess and Eugene are in the princess' room at the moment. Rapunzel was very, very upset by being confined to the palace by the king. Eugene was trying to console her. She was having a panic episode I think."

"Oh my," Queen Ariana said in concern.

She carefully opened the door and looked in. Rapunzel was sound asleep on her bed. Eugene was sitting in his wheelchair, head thrown back against the back rest. He was snoring softly.

"Let's not wake them," the queen said. "They both need their sleep. But, Stan will you please step into the room. Just to keep an eye on them."

"Will do, milady."

The queen hurried away down the hall. She needed to have Dr. Mal summoned to the palace to see her daughter as soon as possible.


	10. Mistakes Were Made

Luck is on my side today, Cassandra thought excitedly.

She had just hurried out from the castle gates when she spotted the suspicious dungeon warden, Officer Melody Rose. The guard was standing in line at a food vendor's stall, Cass could not see what the vendor was selling through the small crowd surrounding it, but it mattered little to the lady-in-waiting. She was just pleased to have found Rose so easily.

Now, where is Officer Sullivan? She wondered, looking around for a ginger-haired man with freckles and a mustache. She gasped and jumped as a hand settled on her shoulder.

"It's alright, ma'am, it's just me."

The hand was removed as Cassandra turned to see a ginger-haired, freckle faced and mustachioed man standing directly behind her. The man was in his uniform, minus his helmet and about as tall as he was wide.

"You are Sullivan?"

"Yes, ma'am, Thomas Sullivan. I take it you are here to relieve me?"

Cass turned back to watch Rose. She was now at the front of the vendor's line, coins in her gloved hand.

"You're correct."

"She went directly to this stall after leaving the barracks. Didn't see her speak to anyone or touch anything. I must get back to my post."

"Thank you for your help, you are free to go."

"Just holler if you need assistance. My post is at the front gate today."

Cass nodded and Officer Sullivan headed back to the palace. Mel Rose began moving away from Cass and the vendor, a Danish in her hand. The blonde-haired woman strode unhurriedly down the street as Cass followed from about twenty feet behind. She put on the wide-brimmed hat she had grabbed from a laundry cart on her way out of the castle and pulled it low over her eyes. She was certain it was the king's, but he would just have to forgive her for taking it. She was devoted to protecting her princess and friend.

I really hope she didn't spot Sullivan, she thought. Although, she would not be so relaxed now if she knew she were being followed.

Cassandra kept a good twenty feet between her and Mel Rose and stuck to the sides of the road, keeping behind objects and people as much as she could. Rose was a trained soldier. Cass realized that she would be more observant and aware of her surroundings than the overage citizen. She had to be very careful. Again, she prayed that Sullivan had been as careful as she was being now. The castle dungeon guard continued down Corona's main street at a steady pace, only stopping once briefly to put her pastry's wrapper in a trash bin on the side of a building. She never turned around or gave any indication that she knew Cassandra was following her.

The lady-in-waiting took stock of her surroundings, trying to guess where Rose could be headed. Cass knew that Rose lived in the western part of the city and they were heading in that general direction. Cass supposed that was where the woman was headed. Abruptly, Rose made a sharp right turn and hurried down an alley. Cass almost missed seeing her turn she moved so fast.

"Damn, she must've made me," Cass muttered under her breath.

The raven-haired woman sprinted to the alley entrance and peered around the corner. Rose was nowhere to be seen! There were no low windows or ladders anywhere along the alley or anywhere for Rose to conceal herself. Cass stepped cautiously into the empty alleyway. She shuddered as the hairs stood up on the back of her neck. She walked briskly past the small bins and piles of debris, nearly shrieking in surprise as a mangy cat ran out in front of her.

If this is a trap…she thought. Yah, don't finish that thought, she frowned. I have to follow her either way.

She blew a sigh of relief as she stepped from the alley to the narrow street at its end. The narrow street that ran parallel with the main street, was lined with old and worn row houses. It was a fairly short avenue, only running for about a hundred feet in either direction from where Cass was standing. Both ends joined streets running perpendicular to them. The area was completely deserted. Cassandra could just barely hear the hustle and bustle from Corona's busy downtown and square. She stood perfectly still. Sure, this street wasn't a main thoroughfare, but there should be a few people around.

Where are the people? Cass thought. Where's Rose? She couldn't have gone far.

The blonde woman was nowhere in sight. The brunette crept around the corner, pressing herself against a building adjacent to the alley entrance. Having now stepped fully out of the alley, Cass had a better view of the street. Approximately fifty feet to her left, at the entrance to a different alley across the street, the lady-in-waiting spotted her quarry. He right side partially obscured by the wall of a building, Mel Rose was sitting on a wooden box, her back to Cass. Cass couldn't see where the woman's hands were.

Cass ducked behind a large box set against the front of a house ten feet from the exit to the alley she had traveled through. There was no cover between herself and Rose from that point on. Cass silently cursed. If the woman was meeting someone at that box, she was too far away to be able to hear anything they said. A few minutes went by, nothing happened. Cass leaned into the box, trying to conserve some energy, sweat was beginning to dampen her collar and her shirt at the small of her back as she stood in the beams of the warm sun. She was determined to wait as long as it took to find out what Rose was up to on that street.

Cassandra had no time to react as a coarse, burlap sack was pulled over her head, flattening the brim of her hat over her hair and face. The edge of the brim rubbed against her nose as she twisted her head around in an attempt to free herself from the bag. The wind was knocked out of her as she was harshly thrown to the ground. The last thing she saw were exploding stars before her senses shut off.

* * *

"What hit me?" Cass groaned as she came to, squinting into the pitch darkness that was all around her.

The young woman shook her head, trying to clear the fuzziness that muddled her thoughts. It took her a few moments to realize that she wasn't in a dark room, but there was actually something covering her head. She remembered then that a sack had been forced over her head just before being knocked senseless. Belatedly, as she tried to raise her hands to remove the sack from her head, she found that her hands were tied to the back legs of the hard chair she was sitting in. Her ankles were tied securely to the front legs.

Well, at least light won't exacerbate the throbbing in my head, she thought.

Cassandra gave up trying to free herself from the bag for the time being. As her thoughts cleared, she was able to calm herself. She concentrated on listening to her surroundings. The bag that covered her head completely blocked out the light and smelled heavily of dirt and potatoes, effectively rendering her senses of sight and smell useless. She could hear nothing except for the steady _plink, plink_ of water drops hitting a larger area of water.

No street noises, she thought. They must have taken me out of Corona. The air is still too. I must be indoors somewhere.

Minutes felt like hours to Cassandra. She tried to keep her training at the forefront of her mind and remain calm, but it was becoming difficult. She was impatient to find out who had attacked her from behind.

Certainly wasn't Rose who struck me and put this bag on my head, Cass thought. She was in front of me. She must have been meeting someone after all. They had to be the one who attacked me.

Cassandra sighed and shook her head.

But I looked up the street in both directions, she thought. But I didn't look back down the alley! Maybe he or she entered the alley after I did and came up behind me from there!

As the lady-in-waiting was mentally kicking herself for her stupidity, she was startled by the loud shrieking noise of rusty hinges as a door opened nearby. Cass sat perfectly still as two sets of feet entered the area close to her. The door shrieked again as it was closed.

"You need to work on your stealth skills, Cassandra," came a female voice to Cass' right.

"Melody Rose, so I was right to follow you after all," Cass said, trying to sound bold.

"Yah, you were actually. You are the Captain of the Royal Guard's daughter. I shouldn't have been so surprised that you and the prince-wannabe-buffoon were on to me."

"Your mistake."

"And yours."

The burlap sack and wide-brimmed hat were ripped from Cassandra's head. Mel Rose tossed them into a corner. As Cass blinked in the sudden light, she gathered what information she could from her surroundings. She was in what appeared to be a shop. Along the wall in front of her was a bench. Above the bench, tools of various types and sizes were hung on pegs. A small blacksmith's forge was in the corner next to the workbench. A pile of firewood was stacked against the adjacent wall. A low fire burned in the forge. There was a thick layer of dust covering the entire room. The distinctive smell of a long unused space was thick in the air.

"You're plan to have me follow you whenever you leave the palace to meet me worked well, Melody," a rather obnoxious male voice said.

Cassandra continued to squint and blink as her eyes adjusted.

"I spotted that fat wall guard follow you out of the gates," the male voice continued. "But we caught a much more valuable fish. Should we milk her for information or ransom her back to the Captain?"

Rose wasn't the only one in the shop with Cass. The second set of feet Cass had heard belonged to a young, thin and blonde man. He was standing in front of the door, looking at Cass without emotion. Cass felt a thrill run through her as she spotted the pommel of a dagger he had thrust in his belt. The pommel was a silver skull with emeralds for eyes.

"So you finally show back up, huh Vince?" Cass said.

The man's face paled.

"How'd you know my name?"

"Your little bandit friend described you to her of course," Rose said. "He's still locked up in the palace dungeon you know."

"The squealer better hope he stays in there, I'll kill 'im if he ever gets out for talking to the guards," Vince fumed.

"Well, he doesn't matter anymore," Rose said, kneeling down in front of Cass. "I suppose if you knew who we were working for, you'd already have them in custody and not be following lowly old me around."

"You'd be wrong then," Cass said, trying to keep them talking. "I was just keeping an eye on you. I know where to find the Serpent."

"Knowing the codename for our employer does you no good," Rose said. "It won't help you find her. Make it easy on yourself. Tell us everything you know. You don't necessarily have to die. Once the Serpent gets what she wants and I get paid, we'll be leaving Corona. Not everyone will be spared, but you could be."

"You won't let me live either way," Cassandra scoffed. "You must know me well enough to know that I will stop at nothing to make you pay for what you've done."

"I respect you for sticking by your principles," Rose said. "I guess we will have to kill you. But first, I want to know everything you know."

"Like you implied before, nothing I know is of any value."

"Not necessarily," Rose said. "I was very careful about my movements and you still found me."

"No you weren't. We found you pretty quickly. Dirty traitor!"

Rose creased her brow in thought.

"Huh, I suppose you are talking about that fool Pete?" she sneered. "I picked him to cover my shift because he was easy to manipulate, men usually are when it comes to someone who is blessed with my appearance. I didn't choose him for his smarts. I didn't need him to be an alibi or cover for me if her were ever questioned. I had an alibi, I said I was at Dr. Mal's office. Tell me, why did you consider me a suspect still?"

"Does it really matter anymore?"

"It does. I want to know where I screwed up."

"It doesn't matter, Mel," Vince cried. "Let's just kill her and be done with it. The Serpent already ordered us to kill her."

"It's the principle," Rose said. "I am a professional infiltrator. I need to know where I screwed it up if I want to continue in my career."

Rose strode over to the forge and pulled poker from the fire. The tip was red hot. Cass tried to swallow the lump that formed in her throat at the sight of the poker. She mentally cursed herself for her stupidity once again.

I should've guessed that she'd have a tail to guarantee she didn't have a tail, she thought.

Rose thrust the poker in Cass' face. The brunette moved her head as far away from it as she could. The back of the high-backed chair prevented her from doing little more than turning her face away.

"Hmm, you are a pretty girl aren't you," Rose said. "I could have counted you as a rival for the male guards' attentions if it wasn't for the fact that you are the Captain's daughter. You know, it would be a shame to spoil your pretty face."

The traitorous guard moved the poker so close to Cass' right cheek she could feel it reddening her flesh. She smelled the unmistakable stench of burning hair as a lock of her dark hair came into contact with the heated poker. Rose laughed as a portion of the brunette's hair burned. Rose roughly put the fire out.

"Don't want to have too much fun yet," she said. "Tell me how did you find me out?"

"Didn't know for certain, until now, fool."

"You're the foolish one, look where you are," Rose sneered. "No one will find you. Now, what do you know of our plans?"

Cassandra said nothing. She knew that it didn't matter whether or not she told Rose anything, she was not leaving that shop alive. But, she wasn't going to go down without a fight. And, she was not going to betray Rapunzel.

The lady-in-waiting winced and sucked in a hissing breath as Rose pressed the poker to the outside of her right thigh. It continued to burn her skin as the fabric of her pant leg caught fire. Rose cruelly put the flames out by smacking them with her gloved hand.

"What do you know of our plans?"

Cassandra said nothing, closing her eyes, steeling herself for pain from the next burn. Rose pressed the poker to another spot on Cass' leg a few inches further up. Cass clenched her jaw hard to prevent herself from crying out. Suddenly, Cass heard Rose snicker in her ear. Cracking open her eyes, she found the other woman's face right next to hers. Seizing what she knew was going to be her only opportunity, Cassandra whipped her head forward, catching the surprised woman square in the nose with her forehead.

Rose cried out and grabbed her nose. Blood immediately started gushing from the once perfectly sloped triangle. As she grabbed her nose, she dropped the poker. It clattered and bounced on the shop's stone floor, landing in a small pile of old straw. A fire quickly lighted and began spreading to the nearby pile of dry firewood.

"I'm outta here!" Vince cried, flinging open the shop door.

Clutching her nose, Rose stumbled back into the bench, but managed to follow the man out of the shop, slamming the door behind her. Cassandra looked to where the fire was quickly spreading from the dry firewood to the ancient wood making up the walls of the shop.

"Whoever built this place is an idiot!" Cass cried. "They built a blacksmith's shop completely out of wood for crying out loud!"

She twisted her body around as the room began filling with smoke, trying desperately to find a way to escape. Behind her she spotted a row of farming implements. Amongst the shovels and hoes was a large scythe. Its old and dusty blade was clearly still sharp and had been well maintained during its time of usefulness. The tool was propped up against the wall with the tip of the blade and the bottom portion of the handle against the ground. Cass would be able to rub the ropes around her wrists on the blade and free herself.

I just have to get over there, she thought, coughing.

Luckily for the young woman, the chair wasn't particularly heavy, comprised of spindly legs and a wobbly back. As it turned out, Cassandra didn't need to make it the four feet over to the scythe. As she tried to hop the chair back by leaning forward and moving back with the balls of her feet, the back legs of the chair gave out and splintered. Cass crashed to the floor on to her side. Pulling her hands free from the broken back legs, she was able to slip the ropes from around the front legs.

By this time, she had inhaled a significant amount of smoke and was finding it difficult to breathe. As soon as she stood up from the remains of the chair, she stumbled to the side, collapsing against the wall. Focusing her remaining energy, she belly crawled to the old, heavy door. She prayed that Vince and Rose hadn't locked her in. In their panic, they hadn't and Cass managed to push her way out of the dying building. She managed to pull herself up onto her hands and knees and crawl about thirty feet from the shop.

She rolled onto her side and coughed as she watched the building quickly become completely engulfed and collapse into itself. A weed-like tree growing out of one side of the shop's foundation had been caught up in the fire, but no other large plants or buildings were ignited by floating embers. Cass lay on the ground watching the fire die down, coughing, trying to catch her breath for several minutes before attempting to sit up.

"Ah, ouch," she winced, placing her hands on either side of her right thigh and grimacing as a wave of dizziness came over her.

Once the dizziness passed, she delicately put a hand to the bump on the back of her head.

"That little shit, I'll get him for that," she muttered.

She returned her attention to her leg. The two burns were rather small and didn't seem too bad. Her skin was red and slightly burned where her pants had caught fire. Her cheek was tender and a portion of hair by her right ear was burned away, nearly reaching her scalp.

"Oh, my hair! I really hope I don't get a bald spot there," she grumbled. "I'm going to rip all her pretty hair out, she how she fancies a bald spot!"

Gently and gradually Cass stood. She carefully tested her weight on her injured leg. As long as nothing touched the burns, it didn't hurt too badly. It was just a constant, dull burn. It was then that she turned and examined her surroundings. Before her sat a lovely country manor. It was two stories tall and appeared to be quite expansive. It appeared to be from the building style popular in the previous century. It had been well maintained, unlike the shop. Vince and Melody Rose were nowhere to seen.

Cassandra cautiously approached a door in what was apparently the rear of the building, it was slightly ajar. The room beyond was a large formal dining room. The house was completely silent. Cass stood at the door, debating about going inside. Vince and Rose were surely nearby still. Probably inside the house somewhere. But, she wondered if this was the home of their employer. On a guard's salary it certainly wasn't Rose's and she doubted Vince would keep such a large in good condition.

The raven-haired woman took two steps into the room. The creaking of a floorboard to her right caused her to whirl around at just the right moment. Rose came flying at her, blood still dripping from her nose, a sword raised over her head. Cass jumped wildly out of the other woman's path of attack, landing on her stomach on the thick area rug. She rolled quickly to the side as Rose swung her sword, narrowly missing having her feet lopped off. Cass sprung to her feet and grabbed the nearest things to her that could serve as weapons, twin, ornate, three-tiered candelabras. She whipped the candelabras forward, flinging the unused candles and the other woman.

Rose slashed through two of them and attacked, bringing her sword back up at Cass, slashing up from right to left. Cass caught the blade in the prongs of one of her candelabras and stepped forward. She smashed the other candelabra down on Rose's still blood slicked hands as hard as she could. Rose cried out in pain as the reverberations of being hit with the brass object went up her wrists and forearms, causing her to lose her grip on her weapon. The skilled lady-in-waiting quickly followed up with smashing the base of the first candelabra into the side of Rose's head.

The traitorous former warden fell to dining room floor with a muffled groan. Cass rolled her onto her back. The woman was out cold. Cass pulled down a curtain sash from a nearby window and securely tied Rose to a heavy dining room chair. Cass snickered as she petulantly tied the blonde woman's hair around a horizontal bar in the back of the chair so that Rose couldn't bend her head forward without pulling her hair.

Cass picked up the sword and kept it at the ready as she proceed to walk through the house. It was just your typical large house, full of rarely used rooms full of rarely used expensive furniture. There was nothing of note until she entered a small room at the front of the house. It was clearly an alchemy lab. She approached the worktable containing the alchemy equipment. Her attention was drawn to an ancient tome sitting on an easel next to the table. She carefully opened it and read through the first few pages and skipped around through the rest. It was obvious to her that the book had several different authors.

This is a witch's spell book, she thought excitedly.

She skipped to the last few pages of the book. The most recent entry appeared to have been made only a day or two before.

 **I have the princess in my sights. My birthright will be mine. This book will come full circle. The original owner of the sun drop flower started it and now me, her descendant will finish it and reclaim the power of the flower. The spells in this book should allow me to unlock her powers for my use. If not, I can keep her as long as I need. I know of a little slip of an alchemist who might have what I need.**

"Descendent of the original owner of the flower?" Cass said.

She flipped back to the front of the book and reread the poem at the beginning.

"The original owner of the flower was Gothel…The current owner of this book is her descendent? This isn't good!"

Cassandra shut the book and hurried with it out of the house. Glancing around, she spotted the house's stables on the other side of the front courtyard. She hurried to it and found a graceful black horse already tacked up. Hoping he was friendly, she opened the gate to his stall and put the book in a side satchel attached to the saddle and climbed onto his back. The horse nickered a little in protest, but allowed Cass to ride him out of the stables and onto the main road.

The young woman hoped that she wasn't that far from Corona. She didn't have a clue as to where she was. She urged the horse on to a faster pace and hoped for the best.


	11. A Return and a Flight

Rapunzel sighed heavily as she gazed out across the palace grounds beyond her window. In her hands she clasped a mostly full cup of tea. Stan had given it to her after helping Eugene back to his room a short time prior. The princess had insisted he return to his bed. He had developed a crick in his neck from his hour long nap in the wheelchair. She was alone in the room, preferring it that way. She had sent Pascal with Eugene back to his room. The young woman sighed again.

Just trapped in another tower, she thought. Gothel, father? Does it matter who it is? Are they really any different?

The blonde princess turned quickly to look at the door to her room. She had heard someone out in the hallway. The sound of the person moved off down the corridor without stopping. She let out a breath and turned her face back to the window and her view of the gardens below.

"Where is she?" she muttered.

Rapunzel was becoming more and more alarmed by Cass' absence. She should have at least sent back a report by that time, the princess figured. She had become quite agitated after waking from her nap and finding that her lady-in-waiting was still gone. Her agitation was the reason behind Stan bringing her the warm drink, to help calm her. Stan had assured her that Cass would be tracked down. She was probably just caught up with watching Mel Rose and didn't want to lose track of the dungeon warden.

"I sure hope that is the case," she said to herself.

Rapunzel stared out at the palace grounds. They were lush and beautiful and very tranquil. Quite the opposite of the churning ocean of thoughts that were flowing through the princess' mind. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself and think clearly, but she just kept returning to her thoughts of the missing Cassandra.

I know Cass can take care of herself, she thought. But these people were still able to infiltrate the palace more than once. What if Rose spotted her?

She turned from the window and her thoughts at the sound of the door to her room opening. Queen Ariana quietly entered the room, closing the door behind her. She crossed the room and sat next to her daughter on the cushioned window seat.

"How are you doing, dear?" the queen asked.

"I'm worried about Cass."

"I know you are, dear," Ariana said. "There are royal guards out looking for her as we speak. She is a capable young woman. I'm sure she is just fine."

"I know she can, but these people have already killed. They'd do the same to Cass if they found her."

"Well, you're probably right about that," Queen Ariana admitted, uncomfortably. "But it won't do you any good getting yourself worked up about it. There's nothing you can do right now for your lady-in-waiting."

"She's more than my lady-in-waiting, mother," Rapunzel said. "She's my friend. I can't help but worry about her at a time like this."

Queen Ariana nodded and patted her daughter's hand.

"I understand how you feel, dear," she said. "I worried about you every day you were missing. It was hard to function at all some days, especially at the beginning and around your birthday…knowing that you were growing another year older without me to be there for you…" the queen had to pause to get control of herself, tears brimming in her eyes, "I didn't know if you were being cared for well. I didn't even know if you were still alive, I could only hope. It was crippling, the feeling of helplessness and emptiness."

Rapunzel reached over and squeezed her mother's hand.

"Gothel wouldn't have harmed me. I was too valuable."

"I know that now. I had no way to know that back then," Ariana said. "I know you are feeling frustrated by being restricted to the castle, but your father and I…"

"Frustrated? Restricted?" Rapunzel scoffed, jumping up from the window seat. "Those words don't begin to describe how I'm feeling! Eighteen year, mother! I was trapped in that tower and lied to by Gothel for eighteen years! You have no idea how that feels. You have no idea how I feel right now!"

Queen Ariana sighed.

"You're right, Rapunzel. I don't know how that feels. I just want you to understand why your father is doing what he is doing. He, and I, are only trying to keep you safe. We aren't trying to trap you. You have to understand that."

The princess sat back down on the bench and clasped her mother's nearest hand.

"I know. I just can't bear being cooped up anymore."

Ariana tucked a lock of her daughter's long hair behind her left ear.

"I wish I could make all this go away," Ariana said. "I think to myself, I should have been there to protect you when you were a baby. I could have prevented…"

"Mom, no, what happened to me wasn't your fault," Rapunzel said. "Gothel would have killed you without a second thought if you had been there. She didn't hesitate to kill Eugene when he got in her way and she would do the same to anybody who was in her way."

"You are the one who knew her, so I'm sure you are right," the queen said. "Even after all these years, I still struggle with the guilt, of not protecting you like I should have."

The queen raised a hand to stop Rapunzel from countering her statement of guilt, excusing it away.

"It's just how I feel," Ariana said. "It isn't logical. But, I got help. I was able to function again, with time."

"How?"

"With the support of your father, the palace staff, my sister, friends and Dr. Mal."

"Dr. Mal."

"Yes, she helped me tremendously," Ariana said. "She can help you too. I had her summoned to the palace to talk to you."

Rapunzel frowned.

"Melody Rose was a patient of hers as well."

"Dear, Dr. Mal has many, many patients. I trust her. Would you be willing to talk to her?"

"That is true, she'd have lots of patients," Rapunzel said. "Still, Eugene seems suspicious of her."

"He's just worried about you," Ariana said. "If you don't want to see her, I'll send her away."

Rapunzel frowned, but finally nodded, "I'll talk to her for a little while."

Queen Ariana stood, smiling.

"I'll send her in. I'll check back with you in a little while, OK?"

Rapunzel nodded. Ariana kissed the top of her daughter's head before taking her leave. Rapunzel remained sitting on the window seat. She looked back out of the window, sipping her now cold tea. Her cup was nearly empty when a knock sounded on the heavy wood door to her room.

"Come in," she called.

Whoever it was responded by knocking again.

"Stan, you can let her in," Rapunzel said, slightly irritated. "Is it Dr. Mal? Dr. Mal, you can come in."

There was no response from the person on the other side of the door. Annoyed, the princess rose from her seat and crossed the room to her ornate double doors and flung one of them open. On the other side stood Dr. Veda Mal. The middle-aged woman had been standing with her left side to the door, her hands clasped behind her back. As Rapunzel opened the door fully, Dr. Mal turned to face the princess, smiling a smile that did not reach her eyes. The doctor said nothing.

"I said you could…come…in…" Rapunzel started.

She stopped speaking as her gaze moved from the mind doctor to the form lying by the older woman's feet. The guard Stan was lying, unconscious, on his stomach just outside her door. His helmet was lying on its side a few feet from his head.

"Stan!" Rapunzel cried, stepping forward to tend to the fallen guard.

Dr. Mal blocked her path, grinning slyly.

"What have you…" was all the blonde princess was able to say before Dr. Mal raised one of her hands and blew a cloud of dust from her palm into Rapunzel's face. Rapunzel clutched her nose and stumbled back.

"What have you done?" she coughed out.

"Oh, don't worry, it's just something to help you sleep," Mal said, stepping into the room after the princess.

Rapunzel fell back into a sitting position against the side of her bed. The last thing she saw as her vision dimmed was the smirking face of the mind doctor as the woman got closer and closer. Before she finally blacked out, one final thought came to Rapunzel's mind:

That's where I know her from. Her expression is the same as the one Gothel always had on her face…

* * *

"Hmm, maybe having some time off hasn't been so bad," the Captain of the Royal Guard muttered to himself, organizing items in a burlap sack.

When he had been informed that he would have to be on medical leave for three days, at the very least, the Captain had not been very happy, to put it mildly. After spending a few hours sitting around his rooms resting as his daughter had ordered him, he had grown exceedingly bored. He'd finally had enough of just sitting around and left to go on a walk around Corona. He'd ended up in the town square, shopping. Several of the downtown stores were clearing out their old inventory and he was taking advantage of the great bargains. He'd already bought two nice button up shirts, boots, sheets, a set of window curtains and a new mustache grooming kit.

He was considering checking out a few more booths when a group of people on the other side of the square began shouting.

"Watch out, lady!" someone close to the Captain shouted.

The Captain turned to look as a black horse galloped wildly into the square, everyone else on his side of the square turned to look as well. The rider was small and hunched over his or her saddle in such a way that the Captain couldn't see his or her face from his angle. The horse whinnied as the rider pulled up on the reins and stopped its progress just a few feet from where the Captain was standing. The rider sat up and turned to face the man.

"Cassandra!"

The Captain leapt forward and caught the rather ragged looking young woman as her foot slipped from the stirrup as she was getting down from the horse. He carried her over to a box and sat her down on it. He looked her over, noting her scorched hair, reddened cheek and the burns on her thigh.

"Cassandra, what happened?" he cried.

The raven-haired woman touched the back of her head gingerly.

"Ouch," she groaned. "Vince got the drop on me when I was following Melody Rose."

"What are you talking about? Who are Vince and Melody Rose?"

Cass remembered that her father hadn't been part of her plan to follow and keep tabs on Rose.

"I was following Rose, she's our suspect for the palace mole. Vince is one of the bandits from the attack in the forest. She was meeting him. Well, he snuck up behind me and I got captured and tied up in the shop at a manor out in the country. I managed to get free after they tried to torture me and left me for dead in the shop after it caught fire."

Cass looked at the burns on her leg as she finished speaking.

A horrified look came over the Captain's face.

"Torture? No one told me you were even missing. Where are these two now?"

"Vince got away. Hopefully, Rose is still tied up at the manor. But, right now, I need to get to the palace. I made a discovery. I found a book that will give us some answers, I believe. It's in the saddle bag."

A patrolling guard had been attracted by the commotion caused by Cass and her horse and had joined the father and daughter. The Captain turned to the young guard.

"Can you get the book my daughter put in the saddle bag for me?"

"Yes, Captain."

She pulled the ancient tome from the leather saddle bag and handed it to the Captain. He flipped through a few pages of the book. He only paused to read the poem at the beginning.

"Golden flower? Does he mean the sun drop flower? Was this Gothel's book?"

"It appears that way…mmm" Cass said, putting a hand to the back of her head. "Ouch."

The Captain picked her up, one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders.

"Let's get you to the palace and a doctor. Steady that horse, soldier."

The Captain lifted her daughter into the saddle as the female guard held the black horse still. The man then swung up unto the horse's back, positioning himself so that he could hold the reins and make sure Cass didn't fall. He gave the animal a light kick with his heels, urging him on to a full gallop towards the palace. Cass clutched the saddle horn with one hand and her head with the other. The bobbing movement of the horse had nothing for her headache for the entire ride into Corona. She was just happy she had figured out the way home as easily as she had. She leaned back against her father. They reached the palace gates a minute or two later.

"Lady Cassandra, thank goodness, we've been looking for you," Officer Sullivan said, grabbing the horse's reins. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine," Cass said, carefully sliding down from the saddle. "We have information that the king and the princess need to see."

Cass turned to Sullivan.

"Send soldiers to collect Melody Rose, hopefully she's still tied up. She's in a nice manor house on the road running north and south at the end of the road east from Corona. The house is on the south fork, about a mile south, on the edge of the Elder's Woods."

"Yes, ma'am," Sullivan saluted.

"Also, we need to try and find a man named Vince," Cass said and gave the man a description of the dagger and of Vince.

Officer Sullivan summoned a couple of soldiers standing by the gate and set to work following Cass' orders.

Cass limped up the palace's wide front steps, around a dark colored coach with a driver, his hat pulled low over his eyes and through the front door.

"Cassandra, wait," the Captain called to her, hurrying after her.

He caught up to her in the foyer.

"You need to see a doctor, I'll summon the King, Rapunzel, whoever you need and you can talk to them in the medical wing."

"This will only take a few minutes and time is of the essence."

Despite her leg burns, Cass made good time to the king's office. King Frederic was sitting at his massive desk reading a scroll. He sprung to his feet as Cass entered and walked up to her.

"Cassandra, you're back, thank goodness," he said, relief evident in his voice. "Rapunzel, all of us really, were worried about you. What happened? You've been injured."

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch. I found a…"

"Your highness, permission to move this conversation to the medical wing?" interrupted the Captain.

"I think that would be a good idea," the king said, putting an arm around Cass' shoulders and gently turning her towards the door. "You are looking a little pale and very exhausted. Your wellbeing is important to me and your father. You can tell me everything while you are being treated."

As they walked down the corridor, Captain turned to the king and shot him a dark look.

"I would like to talk to the person who organized the search for Cassandra and didn't think to inform me when this is all over."

"Understood," King Frederic nodded.

* * *

Eugene pushed himself up from his mountain of pillows and stretched. The crick in his neck had lessened significantly, but there was a lingering tightness where his skull met his neck. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and turned to the door as it was swiftly opened. Pete stepped inside.

"Eugene, Cassandra has returned," the young guard said, excitedly. "She's being treated in the medical wing. The King and the Captain are with her."

"She was hurt? How bad?"

"Didn't hear, I came right in to tell you. Want to go with me to tell the princess?"

"You bet I do, help me out of this bed will you? Rapunzel will be relived I'm sure."

It took only a few moments for Pete to help Eugene into his chair and push him out of the room and into the hallway beyond. They moved off to Rapunzel's room next door.

"Hey, where's Stan?" Pete asked, looking around the empty hallway. "He was standing outside the princess' door last time I saw him."

"He must be inside her room," Eugene said, wheeling himself up to the door.

Eugene knocked firmly on the door.

"Rapunzel, it's Eugene and Pete, can we come in? We have good news!"

There was no answer. Eugene knocked again.

"Stan?" Eugene called. "Can you hear me?"

There was still no answer from within. Pete tried the door, it was unlocked. The pair entered the silent room as the door came to a halt with an ominous thunk on the wall.

"Stan?" Pete called out.

There was no response and no sign of Stan. On the bed in front of them, a form lay, covered by blankets. Eugene and Pete could hear the soft snoring of the person in the bed.

"Princess?" Pete called out to the bed, assuming that was who was there.

Pete pushed the other man forward, leaving him nearly up against the bed. Eugene pulled the covers down from over the person's head.

"Blond-no-Stan?" he cried.

The middle-aged guard lay on Rapunzel's bed, his head on the pillow, drool dripping down his chin. Pete shook the unconscious guard, yelling his name as Eugene looked frantically around the room for signs of Rapunzel.

"I think he's been drugged," Pete exclaimed. "I'm going to get help!"

"Ask around for Rapunzel too!" Eugene called after him.

But, Stan like this... Eugene thought. He was definitely attacked and drugged. Rapunzel wouldn't do this, even to escape the castle.

Eugene felt bile and panic rising in this throat. Someone had most definitely disabled Stan and kidnapped the princess.

"Who could it have been?" he whispered to himself.

He turned from looking at Stan's slack face to the noise coming from the corridor. Several people came rushing into the door, headed by Pete. Just behind him was Queen Ariana and behind her were three royal guards, one of whom was Lt. Hauser, the Captain's second in command.

"What's going on?" Queen Ariana exclaimed.

The woman hurried to the bed, a look of alarm taking over her face as she looked at the fallen Stan. She frantically looked around the room, just as Eugene had only a minute before.

"Where's Rapunzel?" she asked. "When I left her…"

The queen trailed off and turned toward the door where another guard was standing, his attention grabbed by the raised voices emanating from the room. The queen turned to Lt. Hauser.

"Summon the king, he's in the medical wing speaking to Cassandra and the Captain," she ordered. "Start a country wide search for Rapunzel and Dr. Veda Mal…"

"Dr. Mal?" Eugene cried, his face turning pale. "You let her into the castle?"

Queen Ariana's face darkened, she stared at Eugene, angered by his impudence.

"I'm the queen, I can do as I see fit. Yes, I summoned Dr. Mal here to tend to my daughter. She was upset. I had no reason to doubt her."

"Dr. Mal is our number one suspect for the person behind the attacks on Rapunzel," Eugene said. "The person also known as the Serpent."

"What are you talking about?" Ariana asked.

Eugene quickly told the queen all they had learned over the previous few days. The queen knew some of it, but not everything. As Eugene spoke, the king, the Captain and Cassandra entered the room, along with a young nurse who went straight to Stan.

"And I gave her the chance she needed to take Rapunzel," Ariana said, her eyes tearing up.

King Frederic took the queen into his arms, hugging her tightly.

"We'll find her, Ariana, we'll find her."

* * *

"Whip those horses, they need to go faster! We must get out of the city before she is missed!"

Veda Mal turned from the front window by the driver and settled down in her seat. She eyed the still form lying on the bench seat on the other side of the coach. The sleeping drug she had used on Rapunzel was working well. The princess lay still on the seat, out cold and showing no signs of waking up any time soon.

The dark-haired woman dabbed at her forehead with a dainty handkerchief. She had worked up a sweat lugging the princess and her seventy feet of hair through the palace to her darkly painted coach which was waiting for her at the front door. The princess had her hair braided up in its usual style. Mal had briefly pondered how Rapunzel managed to lug all that weight around with her every day.

The mind doctor had dealt with the strain of carrying the young woman. She knew this would be her final chance to grab her. When Melody Rose and Vince had shown up on her doorstep with an unconscious Cassandra, she had not been well pleased, reasoning that if Rose and Vince had been spotted taking the lady-in-waiting, they would lead her enemies directly to her. But then, a royal guard had shown up at her house, summoning her to the palace on the queen's orders to tend to her daughter. It was her chance to grab the princess without her bodyguard's interference.

Mal had nearly been caught though. As she was about to step into the castle's front hall, Cassandra and the Captain of the Royal Guard entered the palace. Mal felt a quick flash of rage.

Those two idiots let her escape! She thought. They better be dead.

Cass would be sending soldiers to her manor soon, if she had not done so already. Mal waited until the father and daughter had disappeared farther into the interior of the palace before she rushed out to her coach which was parked immediately beside the front steps, Rapunzel draped over her shoulder like and as limp as a sack of potatoes. She ordered the driver to start moving even before she had the door to the cab all the way closed.

She breathed a slight sigh of relief as her coach passed through the final gate out of Corona and to relative safety. Now, she just had to figure out where to go. Her manor was out of the question, undoubtedly there were soldiers headed there already. Mal knew all the words of her grandmother's book by heart, so she didn't need to go back to get it. She just had to go somewhere they'd never think to look for her, some place that was very out of the way.

"Milady, we have company!" the voice of her driver rang out, interrupting her thoughts.

Peering out a side window, she spotted two soldiers on horseback barreling down on her coach. The driver whipped the reins, urging his horses to run faster. The pair of black horses grunted and put on a burst of speed that Mal guessed they wouldn't be able to maintain for long. Reaching under her seat, Mal pulled out a crossbow and small quiver of bolts. She only briefly reflected on the fact that she hadn't been practicing her marksmanship much lately.

Fitting a bolt into the firing mechanism, she stuck her upper body out of the window and aimed her weapon. She missed the soldier, but hit his horse in the front of its right shoulder. The animal made a distressed whiny, stumbled and threw its rider. Mal didn't hesitate to fire off another bolt. The remaining soldier and his horse dodged out of the path of the projectile, putting on a burst of speed. The soldier managed to overtake the slower, heavier vehicle, approaching the driver from the other side of the cab from where Mal was hanging out of the window.

The mind doctor scrambled back inside the coach and to the other side window. Sticking her head out, she found that the soldier had already swung up into the driver's seat and was wrestling with her driver over the reins.

"Stop the coach!" Mal shouted.

She braced herself as the coach skidded to a stop, the horses rearing and loudly protesting. Mal quickly jumped out of the cab as soon as it slowed enough for her to safely do so. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she put and bolt in her crossbow and fired. It hit the soldier between the shoulder blades. He grasped weakly at his back and then fell from the driver's seat.

"Unharness one of those horses," Mal ordered the driver, stepping back to the door of the coach.

As the driver did her bidding, she pulled the still unconscious princess from the cab and laid her on the ground. She turned as the driver approached her. The handed her the horse's reins. Before he could react, Mal thrust her ever present concealed dagger into his ribs. He gasped and stared at her in surprise.

"Sorry, John," she said. "I thank you for your years of loyalty, but I to go it alone now. I can't risk you giving them any information."

She pulled the dagger free and quickly cleaned if on the newly deceased man's shirt. She returned the dagger to its sheath. With some effort, Mal draped Rapunzel over the horse's shoulders and climbed onto its back. Turning off the road and into the woods, she set a northwesterly course, towards the mountains and the safety they offered. There, she would hide out for as long as she needed to.


	12. Into the Woods

Cassandra stopped her slow stride and straightened her sore shoulders, blowing out a tired breath. Raising her canteen to her lips she took several sips from it. The afternoon air hung in heavily forested patch of land she was searching hung over her and her companions like a heavy wool blanket. She wished for a breeze to pass through. Looking to either side of her, she could tell she was not the only one. The heat was so intense, it had managed to penetrate the current atmosphere of extreme worry and haste.

The lady-in-waiting, along with dozens of others were lined up, searching the forest for Rapunzel and Veda Mal. As soon as the alarm that Rapunzel had been kidnapped, the king had organized a massive search party, it had been all hands on deck. Four soldiers had been sent to the manor to collect Mel Rose. She was found still tied to the dining room chair. Several hundred other soldiers lead by the King headed out into the countryside. Cass, Eugene and Stan had all insisted on going as well, despite protests about their wellbeing by members of their family and friends. Stan had been devastated when he awoke to find his charge missing. He felt that it was his duty to right his perceived wrong.

The search had lead them quite quickly to Veda Mal's abandoned coach. They had started the search at the site of the mind doctor's coach and dead coachman and fanned out through the ancient forest. The trail of hoof prints had initially been clear, but now about a third of the way through the forest, they had lost it. Immediately to Cass' left was King Frederic. On his left was the Captain. Beyond the Captain were dozens of soldiers in a line. To Cass' right was Max with Eugene on his back and Pascal between his ears. To the right of the horse was Lance Strongbow, then Pete, then Stan, then still more soldiers, all hoping to pick Dr. Mal's trail back up. They all figured she was headed for the mountains that loomed up in front of them, just beyond the woods.

Eugene had accompanied Cassandra and the others against everyone's wishes. Cass reasoned that he could barely walk and would just be in the way. King Frederic felt Eugene going out with the search party would be detrimental to his health. The man refused to listen to either of them. He was going to find the love of his life, his dream, wherever she had been taken.

"Do we know if Mal has property in those mountains?" Eugene asked, his question mostly directed at Cass. "A hideout maybe? Or is she just running for the closest source of possible of shelter and escape?"

"Didn't have a chance to check property records," Cass said, staring at the gloomy mountains. "But, those are the same mountains the bandits from the forest have a hideout in. She could know about it and be headed there."

"We should go there immediately," Eugene cried.

"I think we have a better chance of finding out where Mal took Rapunzel if we try to find her trail," the king said. "We could just be wasting precious time running off blindly into the mountains, besides, I sent a platoon of soldiers to check out those bandits' cabin hideout yesterday. There was no one there."

"Well, that was yesterday," Eugene said. "Rapunzel wasn't kidnapped yesterday. I say Cass, Lance and I go check it out. If Rapunzel isn't there, we can make our way back and check for signs of Mal and her horse on the other side of the forest, see where she came out of."

Lance came over to stand next to Max and Eugene. Both the horse and Eugene's childhood friend nodded to the former thief their support of his plan. They looked to Cassandra. The raven-haired woman turned to the king.

"I agree with Fitzerbert," she said. "It won't take much time out of the search to be sure if she is at the hideout or not. It will also be beneficial to start our search from the other side of the forest and find Mal's exiting point."

"Well, I also agree with Fizterbert, we should search the other side of the forest for Mal's exit point," the Captain said. "And it is true that the tracks we have found all lead to the mountains and, from what I read in the soldiers' report, seem to line up with where the bandits' hideout is situated. I feel this is a worthy endeavor."

"Very well," King Frederic said, nodding to Eugene. "You, Cassandra, Lance and Maximillian head to the hideout and if she is not there, make your way back."

"Yes, Your Highness," Cass said. "Also, if we should find signs of Mal being there and left, we will send word and follow her trail from there."

The king nodded. With Eugene on Max's back leading the way, Pascal still positioned between the steed's ears, the small group headed west towards the mountains. While they kept a watchful eye on the ground and surrounding vegetation for signs of Mal and Rapunzel, they moved quickly. They hope that the kidnapped princess was not too far ahead and unharmed.

* * *

Veda Mal sniffled and sneezed. The old hunting cabin she had taken refuge in had an established layer of dust and grime coating the interior. It was not a hiding place she would have willingly chosen, but she was short on options. Vince had told her the truth about it, it was well hidden. Set at the base of an approximately two-hundred foot tall cliff part way up a mountain, it had been built over the entrance to a shallow cave. Whether the cave was natural or the remnants of an old mine, Veda couldn't tell.

The building was old, very old based on its state of decay and tiny windows, of which the glass was thick and rather opaque. The walls were built from rectangular slabs, originally held together firmly by some type of mortar. Now, that mortar was being eaten away by the elements. In several places the mortar had fallen away leaving small holes that the cool mountain air could easily pass through. The single entrance to the building was a low hanging door that even the average heighted Veda had to stoop to pass under. The heavy oak door that fit into it was held together by rusting wrought iron fittings.

The mind doctor scrubbed the grime from the insides of the windows. She had retrieved the water from one of the three large casks at the back of the cave. The state of the cabin was dismal, but it was well stocked, she would give her bumbling band of bandits that much. She had managed to clean one window and was moving on to the second when she turned around at the sound of a creaky chair.

"Don't bother trying to escape, dear," Veda said to the young blonde woman tied securely to an old, heavy chair at the back of the room. "I made them very secure. I've learned many things during my time as a human trafficker about keeping prisoners as prisoners. Unlike those bumbling fools…"

Veda muttered the final sentence to herself. Tied to the chair was none other than the missing Princess Rapunzel. The princess' hands were tied behind her back and her legs were tied to the legs of the chair. An additional rope was wound several times around her midsection. Veda had not gagged her, figuring no one was anywhere close enough to hear her should she start shouting for help.

"Where do you think you will go?" Rapunzel asked, glaring at the other woman. "My father will have every person in Corona looking for me."

"I have contacts all across the continent. I just need to wait until things die down here."

"They will find me. They won't stop searching for me."

Veda laughed loudly and went back to her window cleaning.

"You were kidnapped before, remember?" the woman scoffed. "They never found you and you weren't that far away! I was in Corona during those first few years you were missing, they stopped looking for you quite soon after you were taken. I remember that very clearly."

Veda's words had their intended effect on the princess. Rapunzel felt a twinge of sadness pass through her chest.

"But don't worry, I'll take good care of you," Veda said, not turning from her window washing. "You are too valuable to me. You know, we could be partners, or even friends if you like someday. It's best that you be cooperative anyway, you will be more comfortable that way."

Rapunzel finally stopped twisting her hands around in an attempt to loosen the ropes. The last thing she said to Gothel was playing through her head, echoing between her ears.

 _"_ _Rapunzel, enough already, stop fighting me!"_

 _"_ _No, I won't stop for every minute of the rest of my life! I will fight! I will never stop trying to get away from you, but if you let me save him, I will go with you. I will never run, I'll never try to escape. Just let me heal him and you and I will be together forever, just like you want, everything will be the way it was, I promise, just like you want. Just let me heal him."_

"I've been in a similar situation to this before," Rapunzel said. "The last time I was with Gothel in the tower. She had be gagged and chained to the wall. She was planning on escaping to some far off place with me. Eugene was looking for me then and I'm sure he is now."

"History does seem to repeat itself doesn't it," Veda turned from the window, finished with washing it. "If I recall, your Eugene was stabbed by Gothel. Believe me, I will do the same if he attempts to enter this place."

Rapunzel didn't doubt the mind doctor's words.

"Gothel and I share so many things, to many personality traits. We are more like mother and daughter than ancestor and decendent."

"What?" Rapunzel exclaimed. "You are descended from Gothel?"

"Yes, by several hundred years. As you know, she prolonged her life with the flower."

"That is why I thought you looked familiar when we first met. You look so much like her. It's the cold look you have in your eyes. She was never warm or kind to me."

"This must be dredging up a lot of memories for you, Rapunzel," Veda said, walking over to face the princess. "We can talk about it if you'd like. I did enjoy being a mind doctor."

"I'm sure you did," Rapunzel spat out. "You enjoyed having the power to manipulate those who were weaker than you, those who were desperate for help. You've always used your position as a tool for manipulation. You got close to my parents in hopes that they would lead you to me, didn't you?"

"That is true."

"Why didn't you seek out the flower or Gothel?"

"I did, but could never locate the flower," Veda said. "I met Gothel once. It didn't end well. Gothel has a habit of stabbing people."

"I won't go with you," Rapunzel said, looking directly into Veda's eyes. "I won't negotiate. I will fight you every step of the way. I've learned a lot since I was chained to that wall by Gothel."

"We'll see about that."

* * *

Cassandra, Lance and Eugene on Max's back carefully approached the ramshackle wooden cabin sitting in the shade of several ancient oak trees. The building was dark and quiet. The small horse shed next to the cabin appeared to be empty. On their way to the bandit hideout they had discovered Mal's track again on the far side of the woods from the coach. The trail continued on for some distance from the forest across a small prairie. They pointed directly towards the cabin's location.

"Hey, what's that?" Lance whispered to his companions.

He pointed to what had grabbed his attention. Crumpled up against the closest side of the cabin to the group was a dark shape. It became apparent that the dark shape was a person as it began trying to drag itself to the door, groaning quietly as it inched forward for a short time before going still. The group looked at one another, undecided on whether to approach the obviously injured unknown person or stay where they were until they could verify whether they were safe to move forward or not. Cass finally decided to risk it.

Creeping forward, Cassandra approached the figure from the nearest line of trees to the cabin. Eugene, Max, Lance and Pascal held their breath as Cass peaked inside the cabin before checking on the fallen person. Finally, she stood and turned towards them.

"It's Vince!" she called. "He's not good. There's no one in the cabin or nearby, I think we'll be safe."

The men and animals hurried over to where Cass was kneeling next to the injured bandit, whom she had rolled onto his back. Eugene dismounted Max and settled down between Cass and Lance. Vince looked up at them through slitted eyes. He clutched weakly at a wound in his chest.

"Who did this?" Eugene asked.

"D-D-Dr. Mal…"

Eugene felt the world shake beneath him.

"Where is she? Where is Rapunzel?"

"She…went to…hunting cabin…by the cliffs…" Vince coughed. "She betrayed me…stabbed…"

"Where's the cabin at?" Lance asked.

"To the north…east is a tall cliff…built of stone…at base…built over a cave…I told her where…it was…then…she stabbed…me…Why…?"

Tears sprung to the dying man's eyes.

"We will avenge you, Vince," Cassandra said.

"Cliff is very tall…directly northeast…can't miss…if you know…where…"

Vince's voice trailed off and he shuddered, before falling silent and still. Cassandra used her hand to close the bandit's eyes. She stood and turned to Eugene.

"Go back to the king and bring them to this place. I will leave clear tracks to the cliff hideout."

"No, Lance can go back, I'm going with you to find Rapunzel," Eugene said, hopping onto Max's back. "You can try to argue with me, but I'm going now."

He signaled for Max to start off in a northeastern direction without another word. Lance stated that he would bring the king and the soldiers to the other cabin as soon as he could and hurried back the way they had come. Cass hurried after Eugene and Max and with Eugene's help, swung up onto the horse to sit behind Eugene.

"You better not get us killed, Fitzerbert."

"Don't think I can fight with a broken leg? For Rapunzel, I could fight with two broken legs and win."

"Well, it's most definitely going to be a fight," she said.

The pair quieted at the sound of Pascal's frantic chirping and halt of Max's forward motion. The small chameleon sprung from Max's nose to the space between his ears and pointed to a spot in front of the horse. Cass dismounted and stepped in front of the animal. Pascal followed her, jumping to the ground, landing directly next to a fresh hoof print in the dirt. Cass looked around for more prints. She could only find one more about fifteen feet to the northeast. The ground around them was littered with leaves, sticks and pine needles and shrubs and patches of grass grew at regular intervals, not pristine conditions for finding hoof prints. The young woman looked back the way they had come. She didn't see even a single hoof print left by Max since leaving the bandit's cabin, approximately fifty feet away. Cass turned to Eugene.

"These prints do head northeast and they are fresh. Our best bet is to try to find more as we head in our original direction."

"I agree."

Cass pulled a small dagger out of her belt and approached the nearest tree. She carved an arrow into the southwest side of the trunk, pointing northeast. She did the same in the nearest tree to the next hoof print fifteen feet beyond the first. The lady-in-waiting decided to continue carving arrows showing their direction of travel every fifteen feet or so. They searched the ground and surroundings for signs of Mal, Rapunzel and their horse. It was very slow going and the wind was starting to pick up. They didn't find a third hoof print until fifty feet beyond the second, the fourth was just a few feet beyond the third.

They searched in the same northeasterly direction for several more minutes. Eugene was getting a crick in his neck and a burning in the back of his eyes from staring at the ground for so long. He closed his eyes as he raised his head and rolled it from side to side. He flexed his shoulders and opened his eyes, looking up at what he could see of the horizon through the tree tops.

"Cassandra, look!"

Cass looked at what Eugene was pointing at. Just peaking over the top of the trees, barely visible, was the flat, gray top of a cliff formation. Cass gauged it to be about five miles from their current position. Just beyond the cliff a tall mountain climbed high into the sky.

"Let's just make it to the cliff," Cass said, jumping aboard Max.

Now, as the small group hurried forward as a far faster pace, Cass used her sword to gouge marks into passing tree trunks ever ten feet or so to let the king and his soldiers know where they had gone.

I'm coming Rapunzel, Eugene thought, gripping tightly to Max's reins.

* * *

"So, what's the plan?" Eugene asked.

He and Cassandra were lying flat on their bellies behind a bush, Pascal was perched on a stem within it. Max had been sent back to retrieve the king and his soldiers. About thirty feet past the bush was the ancient hunting cabin. The dilapidated building had been built perfectly into the side of the cliff. Tied to the cabin was a tired, saddleless, black horse. He had the remnants of a pulling harness on his back. If the horse had picked up on their scent, he didn't let on.

"We need to make sure this is the right cabin," Cass whispered. "Pascal, you find a way in and report back, please. Just verify that Raps and Mal are there, don't talk to her yet."

The little lizard saluted her and crept towards the cabin. He turned the color of the dirt beneath his feet and quickly made his way to the door. He managed to squeeze under the two inch space as his friends looked on from the cover of the bush. As soon as he entered he turned the color of the stone floor and ducked under a table set against the front wall. Peeking out from beneath the table he took stock of the interior of the cabin, lit only by a single lantern on a table in the center of the room. He gasped at the sight before him. Rapunzel was tied to a chair, her chin was resting on her chest. She was conscious, but her eyes were half closed. She appeared to be studying the fabric of her skirt. Mal was sitting in another chair, staring listlessly at the lantern on the table.

It took everything he had to leave his princess behind in the cabin and return to Cass, Eugene and Max.

"Is Rapunzel there?" Eugene asked anxiously.

Pascal nodded and motioned to the humans and horse that Rapunzel was tied up.

"Did she appear hurt in any way?" Eugene asked.

Pascal shook his head no.

"Thank goodness," Eugene said. "We need a plan."

"Pascal, did you see any other exits to that cabin other than the door and two windows?" Cass asked.

Pascal shook his head.

"Ok, I think our best bet is to smoke them out, or just Mal anyway," Cass said, rummaging in a pouch on her belt.

She pulled out a tiny dagger. She handed it to Pascal. Despite the blade's miniscule size for a human, it was about the size of a good size sword for the chameleon. From the same pouch she produced a fist-sized ball of string. Cass gave one end of it to Pascal.

"Sneak back into the cabin, keep ahold of this string, I'm going to be starting a fire," she said. "Use the dagger to cut Raps free and then tug on the string when you are ready for me to start the fire. As soon as the room is full of smoke run out of there. Use the string as a guide to reach the door. Hopefully, the smoke will give Raps the chance to escape and Mal will flee the building. Max and I will be waiting for her when she exits. Eugene, you stay behind this bush and hold the other end of the string, tell me when Pascal tugs on his end. When Raps comes out, call for her to go to you."

"But, I…" Eugene began.

"No arguing, Fitzerbert. Does everyone understand the plan?"

Max, Pascal and Eugene, begrudgingly, nodded.

"Good, now go, Pascal."

Pascal saluted Cass and scuttled quickly to the cabin's door. He was easily able to squeeze under the door again and pull the string and dagger in with him. Before ducking under the nearby table, he peaked make out Cass pulling branches from the bush and clustering them into a bundle. He scurried around the perimeter of the room, but avoided going under any furniture so that the string wouldn't get caught around table or chair legs. He took a breath when he finally made it to Rapunzel, only realizing then that he had been holding his breath the entire time. The chameleon looped the string lightly around a leg of the chair Rapunzel was tied to and climbed up the back of it to the princess' ear, the dagger still clutched in one of his hands.

Pascal very softly chirruped in Rapunzel's ear. Luckily, Rapunzel recognized his voice before she could feel startled and all she did was look to the shoulder Pascal was now perched on. He silently pointed to the dagger and motioned to her hands. She gave a nearly invisible nod. Pascal made quick work of the ropes around her hands and around her waist before moving on to the ropes securing her ankles to the chair legs. Rapunzel knew she was free from the chair, but remained still, waiting for further instruction from Pascal. She kept a sharp eye on Dr. Mal. The woman was examining an old chart she had found in a crate at the back of the cave.

Rapunzel's attention was grabbed by Pascal pulling on her right hand. She felt him tying a string around her right wrist. He crawled onto her lap with the string in his hand. He tugged on it several times. After that, everything seemed to happen in a blur to Rapunzel. There was some slight scuffling at the door and then the cabin began to quickly fill with thick smoke. Dr. Mal shot up from her chair.

"What's this?" she cried.

The room was nearly filled with smoke now. Rapunzel jumped up and using the string, which was being pulled from the other end, as a guide she hurried to the door. Fumbling with the lock, a violently coughing Rapunzel managed to fling open the door and run out into the fresh air. In her hurry two things occurred, she unintentionally kicked the smoldering fire, scattering the embers over the bare dirt and rocks in front of the cabin, and she didn't notice that Veda Mal had caught ahold of the very end of her braid and had been lead out of the cabin immediately behind her.

The mind doctor didn't waste any time. She put the sword she had grabbed when the smoke first began filtering under the cabin door to Rapunzel's throat and used the princess as a shield. Cassandra had figured that it wouldn't be so easy to escape someone like Veda Mal, had positioned herself to the side of the door. While Mal had expected an attack from the front, Cass attacked from the side, swing her sword around to strike at Mal's upper back.

Mal was very quick on her feet and seeing Cass' attack out of the corner of her eye, pushed Rapunzel forward and quickly parried Cass' sword. Cassandra was not one to be easily beat and thrust forward with her sword in another attack. Mal again deflected the younger woman's sword and stepped to the side. This time the mind doctor attacked slicing at Cass' stomach. The young woman just barely avoided being gutted.

During this very brief time, Rapunzel had regained her composure and balance. She turned around after being shoved forward to see Cassandra narrowing escaping having her stomach sliced open by Mal and Eugene limping towards Mal from behind, a sword leveled in his hands. Mal heard him coming and spring forward to attack him. Eugene managed to trade a few sword thrusts and parries with the woman before she kicked him in his injured leg. With a sharp cry of pain Eugene clutched his shin, falling to the ground and dropping his sword. Mal raised her sword over her head, preparing to strike down at Eugene, but Cass charged at her from behind. Mal jumped to the side and blocked the raven-haired woman's attack. The two women continued to fight as Rapunzel ran to Eugene. He grunted and held his leg. As soon as Rapunzel was in reach, Eugene wrapped her up in a brief bear hug.

"Blondie, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Dr. Mal didn't hurt me. She hurt you though…"

Eugene let go of the princess.

"I'll be fine, but you need to run. Follow the marks Cass made on the trees. Your father and his soldiers are headed here right now. It's not safe here."

Rapunzel ignored the chirruping and pointing chameleon that had taken up residence on her shoulder, placing a gentle hand over Pascal's mouth to quiet him.

"No Eugene, I'm not leaving you."

Rapunzel grabbed Eugene's sword from where he'd dropped it and turned to watch the fight between Cass and Veda Mal. Both women seemed tired, but were meeting each other blow for blow, swing for swing, parry for parry. It appeared to Rapunzel that they would both collapse from exhaustion without either one overcoming the other as the clear winner. But, Mal had a trick up her sleeve, she had only been waiting for the right moment. Rushing forward, she tossed what Rapunzel guessed to be the same sleeping powder Mal had used on her into Cass' face. Cassandra grabs her face, coughing and stumbling back. After a couple seconds, Cass lay on the ground, out cold. Mal advanced on the defenseless woman, her sword raised.

Thinking quickly, Rapunzel undid her hair and used one lock to catch the sword in Mal's hand as she swung down at Cass. Pulling back hard in nearly the same movement, Rapunzel pulled the sword from the older woman's hand and flung it into the nearby tree line.

"Don't you touch my friend," Rapunzel said, stepping towards Mal.

Veda took a few steps back.

"I just want what is rightfully mine."

"The power of my hair? What would you do with it? I don't know what to do with it now."

"We could work together then," Mal said. "We could find the answers even you want to have."

Rapunzel took a few quick steps towards the other woman. Mal responded by turning to run, but she was tripped by a lock of hair pulled across her path by Pascal. Mal didn't fall all the way to the ground, swearing, she caught herself with her hands and scurried on all fours for a feet before righting herself and racing off into the woods. Fearing Mal would escape, Rapunzel took off after her. Both women were soon out of sight of the cabin.

"Rapunzel, come back, please!" Eugene called, but there was no response from the woods.

* * *

Dr. Mal proved to be as fleet of foot as she was steady with a sword, but the princess was quick as well and was easily able to keep the other woman in sight. For what to Rapunzel felt like an eternity they ran, only coming to a stop when Mal reached a two-hundred foot deep ravine. The middle-aged woman nearly fell over the edge, skidding to a stop at the last moment and wind milling her arms to regain her balance as she wobbled on the edge. Rapunzel fared much better with stopping her quick forward dash. She approached Mal and stopped just five feet short of where the former mind doctor was standing. Mal quickly glanced to either side of her, looking for an exit route.

"You have nowhere to go, Dr. Mal," Rapunzel said. "Just come back with me. You will get a trial."

Mal sneered at the princess and shook her head.

"I'm the Serpent. I've sold and enslaved countless people. Murdered people. Destroyed people's lives. Do you think I'd go anywhere other than the gallows? Either I escape or I die here."

"My father will…"

"Your father will see me dead, just like everyone else."

"He can show mercy…"

"There is no mercy in this world, child," Mal scoffed. "Where was mercy when I lived in a hut made of mud and branches? Where was mercy when my innocent aunt was hauled away and murdered for being a witch?"

"I-I'm sorry that happened to you, but…"

"Forget it…" Mal shouted, lunging to the side.

The sudden movement and pressure from Mal's movement was too much for the cliff edge to bear. It gave way beneath the woman's feet. The portion of stone and dirt she had dislodged created a sort of domino effect on that side of the ravine for dozens of feet on either side of where she was standing. Mal disappeared over the edge as Rapunzel was shaken to the ground. The world around the princess was consumed by the sound of the landslide and of rocks crashing and breaking apart at the bottom of the ravine.

As soon as she was able to, Rapunzel rushed to the edge to see if Mal had survived. The princess gasped at what she saw and threw herself flat on the ground, her arm dangling over the edge. Veda Mal had survived, apparently unharmed, and was clinging to a root jutting out of the side of the ravine about ten feet down from where Rapunzel was lying. The princess lowered her hair to the woman, stopping when it was in easy reach for her.

"Grab my hair, I'll pull you up!"

Dr. Mal just looked at Rapunzel, smiling sadly.

"Maybe there is mercy in this world," she said. "But, I don't deserve it."

At that moment, Mal let go of the root.

"NOOO!" Rapunzel screamed.

* * *

"She…she looked so peaceful when she fell," Rapunzel said.

It was the day after Veda Mal's death. Rapunzel was sitting in a chair next to Eugene's bed, holding his hand. Mal's kick to his leg had refractured his barely started to heal leg.

"Why wouldn't she grab my hair?"

"Well, I'm sure she was right about going to the gallows if she were apprehended," Eugene said. "She clearly wanted to go out on her own terms."

"But, why did she look so calm when she died? I don't understand."

"No one but Veda Mal will probably truly understand," Eugene said. "She was born into a family that was cursed and had something thrust on her that she didn't choose. She was evil, but I think she was also just trying to survive and make things better, for herself only of course."

"I had this magic hair thrust on me and I didn't choose that. Maybe Dr. Mal and I aren't so different."

"No, you two are very different, Blondie," Eugene said, squeezing her hand. "Mal had a book of magic and alchemy at her disposal that she could have used for good, but she didn't. She was most definitely evil and nothing like you."

Rapunzel gave Eugene a kiss on the forehead.

"I'm sure you're right."

"Are you going to be alright? You know, with your nostalgia?"

"My mom has already lined up a different mind doctor to work with me. I'm nervous about it."

"I understand," Eugene said. "But, you have to work through this. I'll be here for you whenever you need me."

Rapunzel squeezed onto the bed, cuddling up against Eugene. She sighed happily as she snuggled her head up against his shoulder.

"I love you, Eugene."

"I love you too, Rapunzel."


End file.
